Once again the Pelicans rolled against a team without all of its big guns, as Pierce and John Wall both sat out the game, leaving Gortat and Nene to hold the fort.  Still, don’t be confused by the final score (88-84) this was a blowout.  Monty played Darius Miller, Austin Rivers, John Salmons, Alexis Ajinca, Jeff Withey, Patric Young and Jimmer Fredette in the fourth and those guys were wrecked by Kevin Seraphin, Otto Porter and Dejuan Blair.

Up until that point, the Pelicans had double diget leads that stretched into the twenties for most of the game.  My observations:

• Asik and Davis controlled the glass when they were on the floor together.  Gortat pulled free a few contested rebounds, but he and Nene weren’t really able to stop them.
• Asik kept getting free down the middle on pick and rolls as the Wizards chose to stay home on Davis and Gordon and not help much.  Asik is not the best at holding on to the ball or finishing, but he’s good enough to make that a dangerous play.
• The Pelicans ran with the Anderson-Asik-Davis frontcourt for a time out there, but it showed some problems.  Porter kept getting free for shots.  It did turn Anderson into a monster offensive rebounder though.  The Wizards were trying so hard to contain Asik and Davis on the glass that Anderson kept slipping in over and over and ripping down offensive rebounds.
• Anderson’s shot was missing, but it didn’t matter because he kept grabbing second chance shots and earning new possessions.  The Wizards were also playing with fire.  All of his four threes were wide open.  That would kill you normally.
• Small Forward Update: Babbitt, Salmons and Miller combined for 41 minutes, 13 points on 7 shots, 1 rebound, 2 assists, 2 steals, 5 turnovers and 8 fouls.  At least they hit their shots?
• Rivers had his worst game of the pre-season, as he kept losing the ball and/or dribbling into traffic without a plan.  His line isn’t terrible, but he struggled running that second unit in this game.
• Tyreke looked like Tyreke last night, unstoppable power drives and a bricked three pointer that was so wide left it hit the backboard and only grazed the side of the rim.
• Davis had 14 points on 8 shots, 1 assist, 2 blocks, 1 turnover, and zero fouls in 21 minutes.  And it didn’t feel like he was dominating out there.  All flow of the game.  He also had a scary fall in the third that prompted Monty to pull him.  The recap claims Anthony suffered a sprained wrist, but he just shrugged it off after the game as not something serious.
• Holiday looked a little lost on offense.  Outside of the pick and roll he just kept dribbling into trouble and trying to bail himself out with mid-range jumpers and bad passes.  C’mon Jrue!
• Andre Miller likes to grab people.  Probably because he walks like an old man now.  The refs kept letting him do it too.  That annoyed me a bit.
• The team only hoisted 15 threes in this game, a far cry from it’s previous attempts.  Of course, the Wizards perimeter defense was so poor, that the Pelicans could get inside at will for most of the game – so threes weren’t needed.  At one point early in the game the Pelicans had outscored Washington in the paint 28-8.

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