The New Orleans Pelicans fell to the Atlanta Hawks tonight 100 to 91 after thanksgiving day. Atlanta led for the majority of the game while the Pelicans seemed completely hesitant and void of any confidence. After losing to Sacramento the other night New Orleans has fallen to .500
The first half was where the game was decided. Both teams struggled from the floor but a 9-2 run to end the 2nd quarter sparked the Hawks to lead 41-28. New Orleans managed just 13 points in that quarter. In the 4th the Pels came out clicking, but every time it seemed like they’d get on a run Atlanta answered with some form of counter punch.
Let’s get head to the game notes:
- New Orleans scored 40 points in the last period. This is 12 more than what they scored in the entire first half! They seemed out of sorts for much of the start of the game and I’m unsure of what the cause was because there was so much going wrong. They turned it over, took bad shots and kind of just… lumped around.
- Anthony Davis took a rain-check tonight, which is okay by me. He still contributed with 14 points (but on 14 shots), 11 rebounds, 3 steals and one blocked shot. He can’t do it every night and the Hawks pretty much made sure he never saw the ball. Big props to Atlanta’s coaching staff here. We said pre-game that this would be something to watch and it kind of seemed negligible heading deep into the fourth with Davis on the bench. He finally checked in, but it seemed too late.
- Austin Rivers had maybe one of the worst games of his career. He shot 0-8 from the field (0-3 from three) and played virtually all of his minutes in the first half. He was replaced by John Salmons who really didn’t validate himself, but contributed none the less with 3 three’s.
- Jrue Holiday turned in a solid night, but he had to work to get it. Jeff Teague was hounding him all day long and he had a pretty amazing night (26 points and 7 assists). Final stat-line for Holiday was 20 points on 15 shots, 7 assists but no steals…
- The Atlanta crowd made literally no noise all night long. You could play this game in rural South Dakota and the cows would make more noise. For all the flack that New Orleans gets for not supporting basketball the way it should, Atlanta is probably worse.
- JIMMER TIME! Zero points 🙁
- Monty Williams’ suit-game is horrid.
- The minute’s distribution tonight seemed very clunky. I think it was because of Rivers’ poor play. This forced Monty to search for someone on his bench to step up and no one really did. There were plenty of opportunities for one of the guards on the bench to stake their claim at more minutes and none really seemed to do that.
- New Orleans seems back to their ways of shooting poorly – just 40% from the floor
- You know how I said you don’t want to foul the Hawks and send them to the line? Well they went there 22 times and hit 19…
On to Washington where New Orleans will take on a Wizards team also playing well sitting second in the East at 9-5. Remember to follow us on Twitter and share your thoughts in the comments section below.
8 responses to “Post-game observations on Pelicans @ Hawks”
I think we need to revive the old Saturday Night Live nickname: the “Not Ready for Primetime Players”. That describes everyone who played tonight but Davis, Holiday, Evan, Anderson, & Asik. It’s who we have in our 2nd unit, the “Not Ready for Primetime Players”!
Editorial comments on Rivers: He, more than any one player, lost the game in the 1st half. He couldn’t shoot, or guard a Guard. He was awful.
As much as I hate to say this…..rivers was awful. But honestly, as a group, people constantly bash him. It was one game. Anderson shoots horrible and A”we” say he’s in a slump….but rivers does the same and he’s horrible. The guy to me is still raw and immature. I like his game and attitude. I think he should be our sg of the future.
Austin Rivers, Jimer Fredette, Darius Miller, Luke Babbitt, Russ Smith, Ajinça … Do you still think that the Pelicans have any chance of reaching the Western playoffs? Seriously?
OBS: It’s good that Pelicans start building a real team for years to come. Or Anthony Davis will say bye-bye. Do you remember Chris Paul? Yeah…
Rivers is tentative, passing up open corner 3s for tentative weak drives into the paint. I thought he should have been granted a few fouls on early drives, but he wasn’t. If he is going to be in the game, he needs to take those open 3s. He also needs to get back to defending on the ball. There was a lot of horrible defense by our guards and small forwards last night. Fredette also refuses to shoot open loos, which makes him sort of useless. Babbitt can’t seem to get his shot off, and Miller can’t get anything to fall.
Davis is not making his deep twos, so teams are letting him take those dumb zone shots while limiting his access to the rim. He is not able to (or has been told not to) fight his way to the rim for put-backs and aley-oops, or dump-offs. I don’t see him patrolling the baseline like he did early in the season for those easy shots. Of course, our putrid 3-point shooting may have a bit to do with the lack of space around the basket…..
I thought Asik played Horford really well on defense. Anderson hit the offensive glass. Evans and Holliday drove well. Other than that we did nothing well as a team.
Overall, we should win a game where we hold the opponent to less than 110 points, so even though the defense was porous I don’t put the blame there. The main problem is lack of shooting. I don’t expect shooting outside the paint from Asik or Evans, but Holliday, Anderson, Rivers, and Davis need to hit a more respectable percentage from there for us to win. Monty does not have a weapon on the team that he can rely on for efficient shooting outside the paint right now, so I don’t put much blame on his rotations or in-game decisions. He did find Salmons on the pine and got him to hit a few shots. A team-wide shooting slump won’t win many games against teams with winning records, even from the East.
504ever Agree! Rivers wants to bang the ball when clearly, w/ Jure & Tyreke, we need a catch-and-shoot (or pass) in the game with them. Wonder when Monty will try Babbitt in that spot.
When will we stop giving Anderson a pass and call out his awful defense? I know we pay him for his 3’s, but if his shot isn’t falling (he’s been ice cold lately), what else is he doing?
Also, can someone explain these low energy games lately?
For his sake, Austin said he sucked 2nite. So I don’t have to say it.
Only on the Pelicans do 3pt shooters Babbitt and Ferdette shot fake and shoot so many 2’s. If you were that type of player, you’d play more. But you’re not a playmaker, you’re a shooter. Shoot the 3.
Anderson is really trying to play defense, but he just can’t. He is giving his all on the defensive end.it’s just not up to NBA standards. To be fair there are players in the league that can’t give it to you on both end of the court. The problem is we have to many players excluding the five starters that are lacking offensively and defensively. The only two non starter worth keeping is Anderson and Withey. I had hope for Austin coming in to this season , but now I doubt very seriously he will ever become a decent all around player. He is officially
in my evaluation a wasted draft pick. I knew he left Duke too early , but I figure going into his 3rd year his skill set would be much further along. Remember he came in to the NBA with A.D. compare his progress and that of A.D. He is a pretty good defender , but all he does on the other end is bounce the ball, go to the hoop and miss a ton of shops at the rim.
6thMan 504ever Agree x 2…like I said in my post during game…he was awful yet getting the most shots, etc. Have to credit Monty for picking up on his bad night and shutting him down after…
Not a Jimmer maniac, but I have to criticize the offensive gameplan for not being able to get him an open 3…I can’t say I really saw him have much of an opportunity to utilize a pick to get open…one time he got the ball on the wing and no one, not even a big man, came to set a pick…for him to only get 2pt shots is silly for as many minutes as he got…I don’t really blame him, but I do blame the offensive scheme, or lack of.
Davis seemed pouty to me…after the coach’s apparent speech to the players about getting him his 20 shots, I hate to say it but I sense him souring like Gordon did when he first got here and I watched him pout when he was not getting many touches. This is concerning to me…hopefully he recognizes that when he is being keyed on defensively, he’s got to fight thru it and not give up…his body language said it all.