It’s not like they had a monopoly on the fouls. The Kings managed to contribute a huge number themselves to a choppy game with no visual flow and multiple calls made 25 feet from the hoop. It was, however, the Pelicans, who managed the though feat of gift wrapping 41 free throws to the Kings on 34 fouls. You might be tempted to blame Stiemsma and Ajinca, who are the usual suspects on fouling, but everyone got into the act. Gordon and Morrow, who rarely foul anything, totaled 9. Aminu’s first two plays of the game were both fouls.
Lots of fouls, and yet, the Pelicans still managed to only lose by 7. That’s how crappy the Kings were playing too en route to 19 turnovers. In fact, if the Kings hadn’t deployed the (still underrated) Reggie Evans, they would lost the game.
Reggie turned the game around. He hustled his way to 13 rebounds, and even when he wasn’t getting the ball himself, he was making the Pelicans scramble to grab the ball and sometimes lose it anyways to another Kings player. His physical defense in the fourth kept the Pelicans from getting the ball to Davis (not that the guards were trying that hard) and he generated the little scoring surge in the third that the Kings never gave up, despite Tyreke rumbling to a terrific 27-10-8 line.
Other Observations:
- Davis’ shot was way off for most of the game. He missed his first 9 shots – and only two of them were really long jumpers. The rest were those little 10-footer pull-ups he takes all the time and makes at a good rate. They kept bouncing around the rim and falling out. He honestly looked a little tired out there. Road trip isn’t quite over yet, Anthony. But hey, he took a gorgeous corner three and stuck it. That’s good at least.
- The best moment of the game was when Reggie Evans jab-stepped, dribbled twice, and then shot a pull-up, fadeaway jumper from about 18 feet. The ball hit the backboard wide left – and the entire Kings team died laughing. Evans had been playing so well to that point that I don’t think anyone begrudged him that shot, no matter how ridiculous it was.
- I’m so happy I watch a team that doesn’t have to have it’s announcers talk about how “composed” our star is because he’s not getting technical fouls and is merely exhibiting terrible body language instead of expressing it. Cousins is so petulant and acts so put upon, yet he was in the midst of drawing 16 free throws. Whatever
- Withey’s defense is game-changing. The Pelicans couldn’t get anything stopped near the rim until he came in. Then the Kings proceeded to miss shot after shot at the rim. If he can manage to get his hands on more boards, he could be an excellent backup center.
- I can’t say enough about Tyreke. He was attacking all night and even managed to knock down a pair of threes. The Pelicans just needed one other player to get going – and neither Davis nor Gordon were up to the task. A shame.
- I love the Elevator Doors play the Pelicans run. The Pelicans like to run a screen where both bigs set up next to each other in the post and Brian Roberts runs past them like he’s going to curl baseline and go to either the corner or elbow for a pass. Instead, Roberts reverses course and darts between the two big men, who then take a step towards each other. That cuts off the path of any defender trailing Roberts, and gives Roberts plenty of time to reach the corner, catch a pass, and have a free look at the deadly corner three. Happens about once a game. Watch out for it.
- Rivers missed a bunch of shots tonight, but at one point he was on the floor with Morrow, Aminu, Stiemsma and Withey. The Kings put one guy on Morrow and packed the paint. Rivers still got to the rim, but everything was contested.
Next game is against the Lakers tomorrow night. Hopefully we can avoid another foul fest.
13 responses to “Pelicans are Foul in loss”
lost by 7, Rivers missed 4 straight and AD missed 2 straight. Ballgame.
the positive: both the kings and lakers won….lol…..
Rivers looks horrible, goes 2-9 (0-4 from 3pt and 2-6 on FTs) for 6 points with an assist to turnover ratio of 1:1, and gets cut a break in the write-up? Maybe I was watching a different game.
Couldn’t believe all those missed free throws at one point. Well…actually I could because it was Rivers, but still. Before he does anything with his mid-range game he has to work on free throws, as a driving guard. That would just make sense, you know?
Some of the lineups in this one confused me…I know Evans had a great game, but putting him with Rivers and three lane-cloggers (Aminu, Stiemsma, and Withey)…what? It just didn’t make much sense to me.
Good things I took away were WIthey’s playing time (and his blocks!) and that one stretch where Gordon and Evans hit 3 consecutive 3 pointers. Evans has his game almost perfected near the basket. If he could be more consisten hitting outside shots (and mid-range too), he’d be taking that step into the next level.
504ever Instead of just throwing out stats, TELL us what you saw that was horrible. This is as much the fans site as it is ours, so contribute.
And not with stats or PER – tell us what specific things you saw that were poor and could use improvement, so everyone can benefit. Anybody can look at a stat sheet. For those who did not see the game, what was Rivers bad at last night?
How about this? He was on the court leading his team at PG during a horrible 3rd quarter collapse by his team, missing 4 consecutive free throws at a crucial time (that’s a fact, not a stat) and was viewed as such a Pelicans liability that the opposing team’s coach had his team deliberately foul him to put him on the free throw line.
Come On Pelican That’s better. Now, keep going. How did you like his defense? How about his ability to find others?
Look at today’s Daily Dime on ESPN – I named Rivers LVP of the game. I agree that he was terrible. I just want more specifics.
After Eric Gordon’s 3 pointer halfway through the 3rd period, the lowly Kings then went on a 22-7 run to close out the quarter. I didn’t see much defense or offense from the Pelicans during that stretch. When Rivers eventually replaced Gordon in the 3rd, everything seemed to get even worse for New Orleans. Rivers’ only points that quarter were on the intentional foul. In addition to the 2 de facto turnovers caused by missed free throws, he had another actual turnover and zero assists. I called Rivers a lost lamb on offense earlier this season. He got lost again last night. I agree he’s a better defender than Brian Roberts, but Roberts consistently hits 3s and jump shots and is fabulous at the line. Without Jrue Holiday, Coach could probably play eeny meeny miney moe when selecting his PG rotation for the game. Maybe he should try starting Tyreke Evans at the point. And I don’t mind Coach giving Jeff Withey some minutes during the last part of this lost season, but Withey looked terrible in that 3rd quarter stretch.
Rivers was awful last night and AD was not himself. ..I’ll give AD a pass, because he didn’t hurt his team during his struggles.but Rivers on the other hand,killed his team on three straight positions with his turnovers and missed free throws…..I can see big changes for next seasons bench
And i thought a top five pick was something impossible….Guess Monty is the best tank driver ever. Honestly, i think right now we can beat the Bucks and no one else. Boston, Orlando, Sacramento…all those can beat us easily. Rivers, Morrow, Stiemsma, Aminu and whitey is a lineup i never want to see again… Guess that is Monty tanking…. Another lost season of waht ifs…
The only players we’re certain to see wearing Pelicans uniforms next season are AD23, Tyreke, Anderson and Jrue.
Michael McNamara 504ever
Others chimed in while I was away, but my point was: Rivers was horrible and the writeup gave him a pass. What was there to say more? Anyone (Everyone) who saw the game knows how poorly Rivers played.
Tyreke finally responding. My suspicion is that he was suffering from a lack of faith from above. I hope that the starting lineup promotion kicks his tires.