The Pelicans lost to the Bulls 107-72 in a horrible home loss, dropping the Pels to 8-11 against the East. Some thoughts on the game:
- Both teams had very slow starts to the game, the Pelicans didn’t even score until the 8:30 mark in the first. The Pelicans couldn’t hit any outside shot, which is somewhat understandable given that it was the second of a back to back, but they never got going.
- The turning point in the game was really the injury to Anthony Davis. With 5:28 left in the half, Davis went up and threw down a two handed alley-oop, but lost his grip and went crashing to the floor, bringing the whole Smoothie King Center to its feet in worry. Davis left the game a minute later and would not return. Right Shoulder Contusion was the reason given. That dunk put the Pels up 32-30, but after that, Chicago closed the half on a 18-7 run, and outscored the Pels 63-36 over the 2nd and 3rd Quarters.
- The 4th Quarter started with the benches being cleared.
- Tyreke Evans and Alexis Ajinca were really the only players able to hit anything. Tyreke led the team with 15, Ajinca was the only other player in double digits with 10. It is understandable that there would be some tired legs, but the Pels were missing open looks and layups. Eric Gordon was 1-10 (3pts) and Ryan Anderson stepped in for Davis and shot 1-11 (4pts).
- In the end, the Pelicans shot 37.2% from the field, 4-17 from deep, and had only 7 FTA. The Bulls, who, after their slow start, couldn’t miss and got the rim at will, shot over 50% from the field, 10-22 from deep, and were 11-13 from the line.
- Coach Williams said tonight would be a big moment for growth and did the Pelicans ever have a humbling experience. There is certainly no time to celebrate in the NBA.
It is hard not to overreact to a loss like this. With Holiday still out and then Davis goes down against one of the best road teams in the league on the second night of a really tough back to back, there are some reasonable excuses to make, but there is no excuse for a performance THAT poor. I would go back over the pregame and see what the Pels hit and missed on, but there wasn’t anything anyone in a New Orleans Jersey hit.
Next up for the Pels is a home game Monday against the Utah Jazz.
4 responses to “Pels Follow Up Best Win of the Season with One of the Worst Losses of the Season”
That is 3 games of “old Gordon” in a row. He can’t defend athletic guards or score against tough defenses. Any thoughts of keeping him 1 minute longer than necessary need to be banished.
Anderson is now equally bad on the road and at home. I fear he will only return to his former glory if traded from the Pelicans.
The Bulls made some crazy shots and the Pelicans had a ton of balls bounce or roll out.
The lack of a shot clock seemed to make the Bulls shoot better and the Pels totally lose their composure.
I hate Joey Crawford. With Dick Bavetta now retires, he is definitely my least favorite ref. While the game still mattered he was hurting the Pels. Sort of became irrelevant after a while though….
NOEngineer Ditto re Gordon & Ryno.
Gordon is the 34th SG in Real +/- behind Sergey Karasev & ahead of Jeremy Lamb (who played 0 mins in our 2-game series w/ OKC); Ryno is the 78th PK behind Kenyon Martin (Remember him? Had a DNP CD tonight in win) and ahead of Cameron Bairstow, who played 6 mins in Chicago’s win tonight.
Only 2 SGs with lower rating than Gordon are (or were) playing his minutes: Oladipo 48, and Kobe 63.
Meanwhile there are only 12 PFs averaging Ryno’s mins (29 mins pg or more); here they are with their Real +/- PF rating: AD 1; Duncan 2, Marfieff Morris 3, Milsap 4, Griffin 5, Ibaka 8, Aldridge 10, Monroe 12, P Gasol 18, Nowitzki 36, D West 50, Ryno 78. (Mbah a Moute @ 90th is just under 29 mpg.)
Note there’s a big drop-off between 3 top Pels overall (AD 3, Tyreke 40, & Jrue 45) to our next big-minute guy, Gordon @ 156 (with Ajinca in in between @ 129); then the decline continues with Cunningham @ 225 & Asik @ 238, and Anderson @ 296.
We definitely need to get more athletic as a whole. I get Dell and Monty wanting good guys in the locker room, but not at the cost of having a non existent bench……
we still have not found a legitimate small forward. Every guy we have started at that position has had games where they go scoreless. That goes back to Aminu last year. The only person that has started at that position was a player who is not a small forward, and that is Tyreke. When he starts it’s really a three guard unit. The back of our roster could be replaced and we wouldn’t miss a thing. The new guard , James , did more in a few minutes in one game then Walters did the twenty days he was on the roster. I am telling you there are 5 guys in the D League that would upgrade the Pels roster immediately.