And this one started off so well. In the end, it didn’t matter as the Pelicans dropped their 14th game this season. Tonight, they lost 113-104 to the Memphis Grizzlies.
For some perspective, here is the Pelicans scoring by quarter: 38, 27, 20, and 19. The Grizzlies, on the other hand, pulled out in front with big second and third quarters. The story of the night was Marc Gasol. In the preview, I said he was a smart player, and that he was a difficult matchup for anyone. Well, he exceed my expectations tonight. Gasol went off for a career high 38 points on 22 shots, 13 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 blocks. He was simply incredible from everywhere tonight, but he really killed us from midrange and the free throw line (16-16).
Just another night for a Pelicans fan. Anyway, here are some observations.
- Tyreke Evans – It is good to have him back. He wasn’t perfect, but as coach Gentry said, he was pretty great considering this was his first game in 6 months. He finished with 20 points, 10 assists and 5 boards. It is hard to ask for more than that.
- Omer Asik – He played 5 minutes and racked up 2 fouls. He was terrible. I’m not sure what’s going on with him, but it feels like there is something wrong beyond the system changes and adjustments.
- Alexis Ajinca – All in all, I thought Ajinca played well. He was 5-6 from the field and had a +9 in 13 minutes. Obviously, the fouling is a problem, but Gasol was drawing fouls on everyone all night. Again, he’s a tough matchup for anyone. I’d like to see us stick with starting AA for a couple of games.
- Anthony Davis – It was a really weird night for AD. Watching the game, it didn’t really feel like he got things going. He struggled from the line and the field. But he still had his moments. That contested corner three was a great shot. Despite his apparent struggles, AD almost earned his first triple-double with 17 points, 14 boards and 9 blocks.
- Jrue Holiday – I thought he looked better tonight with Tyreke on the floor with him. Hopefully, that continues.
- Eric Gordon – I said before the game I really liked him coming off the bench. He played decent, but he couldn’t hit his 3s (0-4). More importantly the team as a whole seemed to struggle when he was on the floor.
- Norris Cole – He got way more playing time than I expected. I suppose the logic was to have him out there to close the game to go fast and small, while playing some average defense. It didn’t really work out, but that doesn’t mean the logic was flawed. At any rate, I thought he was up and down. He hit a few big shots, but he also took some horrible ones.
- Offensive Rebounding – The Pelicans only managed 9 offensive boards tonight, but I thought they game planned to hit the boards a bit harder tonight. The Grizzlies are just a good rebounding team. It’s hard to get rebounds away from them. Oh, and the Grizzlies had 13 offensive boards with 4 coming from Zach Randolph. That’s not great, and according to coach Gentry, it was probably the story of the game.
- Ball Movement – I’d have to re-watch the game, but it felt like the Pels were so hot and cold with their ball movement tonight. I thought they started the game well and had a few spurts throughout, but overall the ball movement was stagnant tonight. I could actually hear Gentry screaming, “Move the ball!” at a couple of points, so I think he’d agree.
- Free Throws – The Pels went 25-33. This season they’ve been slightly better than that from the line, so an average performance as a team wouldn’t have changed the outcome. Still, AD and Cole both looked rusty at times.
- The Western Conference – It isn’t that great this year. The Suns and Timberwolves both lost tonight. That means the Pelicans are realistically a couple of good weeks away from being in the thick of the playoff race. I’m not saying those good weeks will come. I’m saying this isn’t your older brother’s Western Conference. The sky hasn’t fallen yet.
There’s a lot more to say about this one, but who wants to keep talking about a loss? The great thing about the NBA is that you don’t have to wait long until the next one. The Pelicans play again tomorrow night against Houston. Tyreke has already said he’ll play unless something happens tomorrow with his knee. I’d be a bit surprised if Jrue played again tomorrow, but that choice seems to be a game by game thing at this point.
That’s all I’ve got for now. Let us know what you think in the comments, and we will have a preview of the Houston game up tomorrow evening.
10 responses to “Another Frustrating Loss for the Pelicans”
Davis had the same sour attitude he displayed early in the season. He was not elevating for rebounds, allowing Randolph to get several offensive rebounds which were the difference in my opinion. Davis also shot poorly along with everyone else.
Gasol played like AD was supposed to play.
76% FTs for NOP, 96% for MEM. Almost the margin of victory…
Cole hasn’t lost anything, including his tendency to jack up shots. Sucks less than Gordon, though…..
Asik is a liability on offense and in my opinion not playing up to his defensive/rebounding role – Anderson is a liability on defense and is constantly blown away for an easy layups or a foul from teammates who step in to help; he does however find a way to get a few 2nd chance baskets every game. I probably am going to get told that we didn’t sign Asik for offense and Anderson for defense but the truth is we can’t afford to have one dimensional players.
I’ll hold off til January before wanting trades/change
jdperalta84 Let the church say, AMEN!!
What we’ve heard in the past:
This team will be great if we can just increase “the pace”
(oh, wait – more and quicker shots could lead to more missed shots and an even greater
importance of rebounding, an area of weakness on this team; on the plus side when it comes to “pace,” see last night’s 1st
quarter; on the negative side, see last night’s 3rd & 4th
quarters)
This team will be great if we can make sure “the offense
goes through AD” (oh, wait – maybe iso’s are not his game; maybe he’s not quite
ready for the team to feature his 3 point shot; maybe having him spend time
during some offensive sets around the 3 point line will reduce his offensive
rebounding; maybe this entire approach will produce a career low field goal percentage)
This team will be great if AD spends more minutes playing
center (oh, wait – sometimes that means he will be matched up against the likes
of Marc Gasol:38 points, 13 rebounds, 6
assists, 4 blocked shots, 16 for 16 from the line, with only one foul)
This team will be great when we get Norris Cole back (oh,
wait – who told him to shoot 12 times last night? Do we really want him taking 15% of the team’s field goal attempts? — the same number of shots as Tyreke, and just 3 fewer than AD)
This team will be great when we get Tyreke back (oh, wait –
after he posted a stat line of 20-10-5, the team still lost ugly)
What we will hear in the future:
This team will be great when we get QPon back…
This team will be great when we figure out our rotations…
This team will be great when we figure out how to use our
centers…
This team will be great when all of the projected pre-season starters
return and get more playing time together…
Come On Pelican I couldn’t have said all this any better. I am really looking at Dell’s seat to heat up. This roster does not fit this style of play. Gentry had knock down shooters in PHX and GS, this roster only has Andersen and Gordon, and they are not consistent. Dell built this roster to mimick SA (remember Tyreke coming of the bench similar to Ginobli) when Monty was coaching. Now we bring in Gentry, whose style of coaching mimicks PHX and GS, yet it’s the same roster. You can’t use this same roster for 2 totally different styles of play! Each style requires different skills sets (SA is medium pace/defense first, GS is fast pace/athletic with pure shooters). Demps screwed up and he needs to fix this ASAP! I also feel Jrue is a lemon. Why is Jrue still on minute restriction when Tyreke, who just had knee surgery, played regular minutes? Doesn’t make any sense. SMDH
Alvin Gentry sucks.
What is up with Asik? He looks like he’s 110 years old out there. I’m still cautiously hopeful that we can turn this around, but I’m starting to be concerned about some of the attitude/lack of effort I see during parts of the game. On to Houston!
It’s amazing how many times this year the Eastern Conference teams have taken match-ups against Western Conference teams. Hope that keeps up, as it will make getting the playoffs easier.
I liked the change in Center rotation. Ajinca’s defense is not soo bad aside from the fouling, and they are only playing a real 5 man for about 15-20 minutes max. Let it be Ajinca. I would probably not be saying this if Asik did was not playing like he aged 15 years as soon as he signed that contract.
I share the gloominess, but its not smart to conclude after just one game that getting Evans and Cole back wont help a lot. These guys need time to play together. Gentry needs time to figure out rotations. That lack of cohesion was a factor even with Evans putting up #s. Just like it took them a few weeks to figure out how they might be good enough to win some games with the depleted roster at the beginning of the season, its going to take some time to figure out what works best with all the guys available now.
The best plan for now is to keep working with that they have to see if they can find the right groupings and chemistry to make things work. I still believe that the squad has the physical ability and basketball skills to be a big winner. Sometimes it just takes a while for things to click. But after watching the Pels continue to make the same mistakes under a different coach, I’m slowly reaching the conclusion that they have too many talented players that lack the winning intangibles — too many guys with poor basketball IQ – especially on defense; too many guys who play without energy and fall asleep mentally; and too many guys that are just a little too passive physically. Not that I really think he will make a difference all by himself, but Q-Pon is basically the anti-Pel. He plays smart and with energy, he goes after every ball, and he’s not afraid to run into somebody when he has to. Not counting on it, but I think those intangibles really helped push these other guys toward the playoffs last season. So I still have some hope that he can help make things click.