Pelicans Beat Magic, Anthony Davis is a Monstar

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Published: January 26, 2014

Box Score

The game set up so well for Anthony Davis. Orlando is still missing Nikola Vucevic, and they played a lot of small ball versus the Pelicans. They simply had no answer for Davis’s length and activity, and the product was a monster game.

 

 

..But of course, this is nothing new. Davis’s expectations have perpetually risen during his brief stint with the franchise, and performances like these, while not the norm, are quickly becoming more of a regularity. He wound up with a line of 22 points, 19 rebounds, 7 blocks, and 2 steals.. oh, and not to mention this monster dunk.

 

 

Davis’s star has arrived, and it’s shining brightly enough to light up a pretty grim season.

Other Notes

  • Anthony Davis and the bench won the game for us. Tyreke was once again a bull in a china shop and spent the entire night charging the rim and contorting his body to finish there. His jumper was also on tonight, as he uncharacteristically drilled a few midrange Js.
  • Austin Rivers continues to improve as he gets minutes. The statline isn’t sexy, but he played well tonight. He is a very smart defender for his age.
  • Brian Roberts had one of his best nights of the season, sans a few turnovers. His jumper was on, and he had no issue getting it off when his bigs were setting good screens for him. He knew Glen Davis wasn’t about to block him.
  • Darius Miller had 4 fouls in a shade under 10 minutes, but wound up with a +19 on the night. His shooting was excellent, and he showed no hesitation pulling up from deep.
  • Jeff Withey’s touch was off and he went 1-6 from the field tonight, but had a good night on the boards and set some really solid screens (aside from the one in which he stuck his hip out on Nelson and got called for the foul). He was also his usual self trying to alter shots at the rim. He didn’t get his paws on any tonight, but I still liked the activity. He did get backed down by Big Baby, who threw him under the goal like a rag doll. He’s going to need to gain some weight.
  • Eric Gordon had another strong first quarter, and like other nights, disappeared for the rest of the game. I don’t know what the issue is.
  • Arron Afflalo had a big scoring night, but if memory serves me correctly, most of it came versus defenders other than Al Farouq Aminu. Aminu was active tonight chasing Afflalo around screens and grabbing boards. He put in a lot of work tonight.
  • Alexis Ajinca had 2 fouls in the first 2 minutes of the 2nd half. It found him a spot on the bench, but more importantly, it allowed the Magic to get into the bonus very early in the 3rd quarter. Both fouls came on the offensive boards.
  • The 3rd quarter blues continue. I don’t know if there’s a safer bet in the world than the Pelicans losing the 3rd quarter.
  • Anthony Morrow had a quiet night. He only had 2 shots, and the only one I remember was a curl off a Withey screen.
  • Arron Afflalo had his way posting up just about every Pelican guard. That guy is an animal in the post. I can only recall two people backing Tyreke down this year: Rodney Stuckey and Afflalo. Dude can play.

That’s 3 wins in a row for the Pelicans. CHAMPIONSHIP!!!

**Edit: I have been reminded that we’ve only won two in a row. Of course, I would NEVER make a mental error, so consider it a prediction.

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