I felt like someone had kicked me in the gut with 11 minutes to go in the game and the Pelicans down 14 to the Jazz. Up to that point, it had all the hallmarks of a trap game gone wrong, The Pelicans were playing sloppy and had 7(!) turnovers in the first quarter and 11 in the half, nearly matching their average number for a whole game. Every 50-50 ball was going to the Jazz as the Pelicans were out-hustled. A Random bad shooter started going off. (Trey Burke is shooting 36.5% from the field this year)
And then the Pelicans ran like crazy, made defensive plays like crazy, the crowd went crazy and the Pelicans had 4 empty possessions the rest of the game. Final 119-112.
Ahhh. What a relief.
Observations!
- I’m declaring Evans’ struggles at the rim to be over. Last year he sucked at the start of the year, getting into shape, fighting through a lingering training camp injury. This season it’s the same thing. He had problems in training camp and struggled to round into form. Dude is now the sickest kind of bowling ball headed to the rim.
- The Jazz broadcast team – who were killing the Pelicans’ guards through three and a half quarters – just couldn’t keep it up with Tyreke. On that sick play when Tyreke went behind his back to dodge a blitzing Exum, and then shouldered Exum all the way from halfcourt to the basket for the hoop and harm, one of them just let out a rueful little laugh and a “Tyreke is amazing in the open floor.” Agreed.
- Holiday started the game on Alec Burks – who clearly the Pelicans considered more dangerous. Trey Burke went 5-5 on Tyreke and Jimmer for 15 points in the first quarter. Holiday switched to Burke and the former Michigan star ended the game with 16 points.
- Jrue is a little bit of a foul machine, but I don’t care at all. He is a competitive psycho defensively and he’ll put his body in front of anybody, no matter how big. At one point in the fourth Enes Kanter was rumbling full speed at the basket after slipping a pick and roll and Holiday flew in from the side, leapt in the air and got tossed six feet as Kanter barrels into him. But he stopped the dunk and Kanter missed a free throw! Love it.
- Kanter was an interesting case tonight. In the pick and roll he was brutal to stop. Great at getting to the rim and even better at cleaning up misses from the ballhandler as he earned 6 offensive rebounds. However, he unleashed a pack of awesome moves on iso post attacks and . . . they produced 2 points on 8 shots. I don’t know if his touch is better normally, but he could have been a MONSTER, not just a handful.
- Speaking of monsters, AD with 31 points on 15 shots. Damn. I’m just stopping there before I have an efficiencygasm and have to cuddle the boxscore.
- Anderson is a shooter. Shooters are streaky. He followed 2-15 with 10-15 and six threes. God I love it when he’s on. He’s the only reason the Pelicans stayed in reach through the first half.
- Rivers had a solid game – and Monty gave him extended play in the fourth in a three-guard lineup with Evans and Holiday. Despite giving up some serious size, his defense on Alec Burks and Gordon Hayward was better than what Dante was doing. Dante played hard, but didn’t have the foot speed to chase those two.
- Withey and Jimmer each had nice moments. Withey’s post defense was really good, but every time one of those shots missed, he never got the rebound. I mean never. He got zero rebounds in 13 minutes.
- The Pelicans defense still has moments of being really, really bad defending the pick and roll. Too often Pelican players not named Asik stay home on the screener and don’t help bump the driving player. This could be by design, but it means someone should come from the weakside and bump the ballhandler and that’s not happening either. Somebody needs to bump someone fellas.
Next game is Thursday against in Houston. Watch Party!
11 responses to “Pelicans storm back on Jazz”
For some reason I think this team is better without EG. Unfortunate injury and speedy recovery for him, but his loss opened the door for Dante, and his production and change of look with a long 3 type of dynamic makes the team more complete, maybe not as talented, but more complete… Also, his departure has truly opened up confidence in Tyreke and Jrue, knowing that they are the lead guards and freeing up more shots which leads to confidence growth…
Doctor Skillz What a joke!
Doctor Skillz is actually in the majority. A lot of people feel this team is better without Gordon. Yes, Gordon does bring an element we are missing, he helps spread the floor and defenses must account for him. But with him out, Evans is at his true spot as a 2 and he has been a killer getting to the rim!!!! All we really need is a true SF that can shoot on the perimeter and this team will be deadly. Even the bench is improving game to game. Dell has done a great job building this team!
dbeard06 you know what the say about a lot of people, almost always WRONG!
xman20002000 Doctor Skillz
For all people who think Dante is a PF please stand up….? whelps, sorry xman and your buddy bigesking, you guys are the only ones standing… the guys here on bourbonstreetshots.com do too much of a great job taking fans to the depths of basketball for u guys to think Dante is a PF. I can only make a basketball response on a comment that expresses basic basketball understanding. Unfortunately on this one I don’t have a basketball response to offer… Go pels on friday!!
bigezking Doctor Skillz
For all people who think Dante is a PF please stand up….? whelps, sorry bigezking and your buddy xman you guys are the only ones standing… the guys here on bourbonstreetshots.com do too much of a great job taking fans to the depths of basketball for u guys to think Dante is a PF. I can only make a basketball response on a comment that expresses basic basketball understanding. Unfortunately on this one I don’t have a basketball response to offer… Go pels on friday!!
Ok, using this list in this order tell me who is the first player who is not essencial to this team: AD, Jrue, Tyreke, Asik, Ryno, Gordon, Rivers, Cunningham, and Babbitt
I say it is Gordon and, given his salary, it’s an even easily the decision based on value. Cunningham and Babbitt are on minimum deals, and Rivers is currently overpaid to fairly paid in this year of his Rookie deal. Gordon has a contract thru 2015-16 at $15M/year. He will be gone by then.
xman20002000 504ever But you didn’t answer the question. We can’t keep everyone!
Getting off topic but some comments have pushed this towards salaries and our future. My concern is AD is about to do a “Brees” when he gets his max money. I know there are equal factions of people who feel he is owed all we can pay and others who feel that this handicaps a team to their detriment by limiting the pool of monies available to attract other high priced players..
I see our team in a similar light as the Memphis Grizzlies…Randolph and Gasol are making the big bucks but the other guys are essential to making them great and their ability to keep them together for as long as they have seem to be paying big dividends this season. I’d like to think we could all agree that if our team’s core and contributing players could stay together that we could see ourselves at that same level of success, but once we get a $20-$25 million dollar man, that just does not seem to be as likely.
I freely admit that I’ve done no studies or analysis of salaries vs likelihood of success. I only know that the Heat were and the Spurs are very successful both as title contenders and at being able to get guys to band together for a common goal at less that top money. How do we get there? Somehow our brass has to get our guys to buy in to that philosophy as their best chance of ensuring long term success. Of course, if we could add a Durant to combine forces with Davis and compete against the West, the increased chances of success might lead them to sacrifice a little and fill our SF void nicely. Durant and Gordon’s contracts run out after next year. Might Gordon accept a 3-4 year deal at $8-9mil vs risking his value on the open market? Might Ryno do the same given the significance of his role here and a growing connection with the team thru tough times in his life? Might Asik similarly value his role as a starter here vs the possibility of a backup elsewhere? Might Jrue and Tyreke stay put where they are if they see the model is working? Will all this work to our advantage once the new TV deal sets the bar higher for the salary cap?
Certainly some pie in the sky thoughts but its fun to look at the possibilities and hope for the best. At least the potential is there for something special to be built long term and it looks to me like our brass have shown they prefer to hold on to the more important pieces to bring stability and hopeful success. When we have multiple guys capable of lighting it up for 30 on any given night, that is a good thing to hold on to for as long as possible. We’ve seen how important good depth is for any team to be successful. (Sorry for the length!)
I’d like to see EG10 come off the bench. EG,Ryno, Rivers, Cunningham and Withey. ..
xman20002000 Doctor Skillz Wsup my friend, and your my friend cause ur obviously a pelicans fan. But again basketball weakness you express in this comment. Position titles are interchangeable, flexible, and associated with the placement the particular present team places on a respective player for whatever reason, just as tyreke is listed as SF for the team now, but in his rookie of the year season in sac town he was listed as a guard. Position titles do not matter. However, when you evaluate true position, you consider the ideal fit the player brings to the respective position, and in this manner is how you assess him. In this system of analyzing, Dante is not a PF. So to say he is a PF as you have stated makes your reasoning and basketball feel very suspect-cause he is not a PF, he’s a SF. He may not be the Durant or exceptional SF that would make it easier for you to say he’s a SF, but he is a small forward nonetheless. But ill surrender, Dante is a PF (with sarcasm).