For the 3rd game in a row the Pelicans had two 30pt scorers. This time it was the Pels’ backcourt duo of Tyreke Evans and Jrue Holiday, combining for 64pts, 11rebs, 14asts, 7stls, and 3blks to help take the NBA’s best team down to the wire. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough as the Pels fell in OT 128-122. GS led 60-51 at half, but a 38pt 3rd by the Pels got them back into the game. They matched everything the Warriors threw at them in the 4th, but just couldn’t hold on in OT.
There honestly isn’t anything negative to say about the Pelicans, the way they fought and the defense they played tonight was nothing short of inspired. Curry, Thompson, those guys are gonna score on you, they are pretty much the best backcourt in the league, but Jrue and Tyreke matched them toe to toe, and in my biased eyes outplayed them. The defense, led by a stellar performance from Holiday, forced 20 turnovers, 6 from Curry, leading to 23 points for Pels. Everyone contributed, double digit points from Cunningham and Withey, hustle plays and all around effort from Rivers, it just wasn’t enough to bring down the now 21-2 league leading Warriors.
Perhaps the deciding factor was the 3 ball – a theme in Golden State games. Babbit, Rivers, and Anderson shot a combined 4-15 from deep, while Golden State as a team shot 45.8% on 11-24 from deep. Anderson was just 5-16 from the field, as the form he found in Friday night’s performance against the Cavs did not carry over. He is now at 33% on the season from the 3pt line (having taken over 150 shots); he hasn’t shot under 38% from 3 since the 09-10 season.
Evans, however, is in great form after a slow start to the season. He has now scored 30 or more in back to back games against 2 elite teams and is shooting over 46% from the field in his last 10.
This loss stings, and I am not one to claim moral victories, but in all honesty the Pels looked great in front of a great crowd. Their form has been on the rise as of late, and hopefully they keep improving after the return of Davis. Next up is a Tuesday night match up against a 6-18 Utah Jazz at the SKC.
16 responses to “Pelicans Lose Heartbreaker in OT”
What’s with the limit on comment length?
I can’t get past the fact that the teams offense in the last minutes was the same high pick and rolls over and over again. Look I get that up to that point Tyreke was flat out playing bully ball, but I cant help but feel they played into Golden State’s hands. I went back and watched the last 7 offensive possessions in regulation (from the 2:57 mark in the 4th quarter when Tyreke re-entered the game) the first 5 of those possessions before the Luke Babbit almost disaster inbound play, and the final shot, were all the same high pick and roll, the first 2 were in Jrue’s hands, the other 3 were in Tyreke’s. And this is no hyperbole, there was only 3 that’s right 3! passes in all those possessions combined, all from the 2 Jrue possessions. That’s Kyrie 33 win Cavaliers basketball right there and that’s just not winning basketball because it just so much easier for the other team to defend.
I hope Jason’s theory on this when it was mentioned on the podcast is correct and that they will grow out of this eventually, because tonight I honestly believe it costed the team a win.
Great play otherwise!
What do you suggest the Pelicans do differently with AD out and against the best team in the league, and why do you think it will work?
It’s easy to complain after the fact.
Some points:
1. No Brow. (Team has stepped up immensely without him)
2. Took the best team in the NBA into OT.
3. Tyreke bullying opposition, but Jrue needs ball more in clutch situations because of his patience.
4. As 504 said, we lost a lot the majority of those charge calls.
5. Small ball with Cunningham/Ryno the front court in OT? Wasn’t Withey having a career game?
Overall I’m not upset. To the contrary, I’m excited for the future.
The ‘Cans beat the Cavs at full strength with only 7 minutes of Brow playing.
Then they came back without him entirely and stepped it up against the best team in the NBA (currently).
The future is bright.
The Cavs, for one are not a very good basketball team, average at best. We should not get so excited about beating them without Davis. Alot of teams are going to beat the Cavs this year.
Totally blew it down the stretch against the warriors who were without one of their starters.
Kings fire their coach, i assume going to go after a top level coach. Wish we would do the same. This coach has done nothing to deserve the benefit of the doubt of being able to win big. Go get a proven coach who has already demonstrated this.
bigezking Surely you jest.
The Cavs have 3 top players at their position and David Lee is certainly no Anthony Davis when it comes to missing players.
If anything the fact that we were able to compete against Golden state without him is a TESTAMENT to our coaching.
Caffeinedisaster bigezking I was referring to Andrew Bogut, so thanks. Two starters out.
bigezking Caffeinedisaster I’m sorry. I didn’t know he was still on their roster. I’ve never seen him play 😛
Caffeinedisaster bigezking Started 20 games this year, averging 10 rebounds a game. guess you don’t watch much basketball.
bigezking Caffeinedisaster Sarcasm.
We scored 111pts running the same offense..
The game was lost on the Dante/Steph charge call that should’ve been an and1..Great Game though..The future is bright!!
Caffeinedisaster bigezking must be talking to a 10 year old.
bigezking Caffeinedisaster I must be talking to a 9 year old. Anthony Davis > Andrew Bogut AND David Lee. Get back on the “Fire Monty” train. The team has far greater issues than coaching, yet he seems to receive all the blame after any loss.
You should be PROUD of this team and what they’ve been able to accomplish considering they are in the strongest division in pro sports.
OberynStark 504ever Guys I’m not saying it’s the worst issue in the world right now, and I am certainly no expert on play design and game time X’s and O’s but it’s legitimate problem that occurs with AD out there or not (although that does make the offensive rebounding potential of the play much better), Every game when it comes down to crunch time, our offense stops being sophisticated and becomes hero-ball. And I wish I knew how to collect these kind of stats but I would wager the Pel’s have their worst offensive production in these simple sets. I just don’t see how turning Jrue and Ryno into stand still shooters in these final plays is utilising them at their peak, I would much rather see the wonderfully more intricate designed plays that Monty comes up with out of time out’s being the staple of our crunch time plays. It’s a step I expect the Pelicans to make in time just like the Warriors have this year, and you will see the difference it makes at the end of games
I agree on the hero ball..I think Monty may feel he still has a good chance at success with that since each are such good penetrators, and especially if the defense does not collapse…a few times when they did help I remember each dishing, but overall I would prefer to see what teams like the Spurs and Warriors do, running their guards off of numerous screens to get open