With Jrue Holiday out with an injured ankle, the New Orleans Pelicans trotted out a starting lineup of Evans, Gordon, Cunningham, Davis, and Asik. This decision was an interesting one, as there is little data from this season to support the notion that it would be good defensively or at spacing the floor. Seven minutes later, Anthony Davis and Eric Gordon’s 11 combined points helped the Pelicans jump out to a 17-8 lead, and the team would never look back, defeating the Detroit Pistons 105-94.
Lots of good things to take away from the win tonight. Some that come to mind instantly:
- In the game preview from this morning, I mentioned the battle of Pistons defensive rebounding vs. Pelicans offensive rebounding, and New Orleans won this battle decisively. Detroit was averaging a defensive rebound rate of 78.4% over the last 10 games, but that fell to around 70% tonight thanks to the Pelicans’ 11 offensive rebounds. Great work from the New Orleans big men (with a bit of help from Gordon), as those additional opportunities resulted in a 20-5 edge for the Pelicans in second chance points.
- Anthony Davis performed admirably on both ends of the court, finishing with 27 points on 18 shots to go along with 10 rebounds (3 on the offensive end, as many as the entire Pistons team) and 4 blocks. Like many NBA teams, Detroit simply didn’t have the personnel to stop him.
- Asik displayed his usual stone hands on multiple occasions, but he was a key contributor on the defensive end, holding Andre Drummond to just 2 points and 2 rebounds all game. Add that defense to his 13 rebounds and perfect 4-4 day at the stripe, and that’s pretty much what you want from a player of Omer’s talent level. He even had two assists!
- Eric Gordon certainly had some issues taking care of the basketball – he led the team in turnovers with 4 and threw at least a couple other ill-advised passes – but his added responsibilities in relation to Holiday’s absence may have been a big factor. Apart from that, he played pretty well, showing hustle from start to finish (whether it be in the form of offensive rebounds or saving loose balls) and making himself a threat that the defense couldn’t ignore.
- Tyreke played, in my opinion, his least selfish game of the season tonight. He still embarked on a couple of his classic “barrel at the rim” moves, but more often he was actively looking for open teammates. In a truly rare sight, he led the Pelicans in free throw attempts with 8, not to mention his near miss of a triple double (18 points, 9 assists, 8 rebounds). The Tyreke we saw tonight is the type of player that needs to stick around even when New Orleans’ “real” starting PG returns from injury.
- With Rivers and Smith out of the picture and new signee Nate Wolters only joining the team today, Jimmer played 19 minutes tonight and had a bigtime stretch in the 2nd quarter to help the Pelicans break it open. He was pretty sub-par (especially defensively) in the second half, but it was fun to get a glimpse of why the Kings made him a top-10 pick a few years back, even if it wasn’t in the form of raining 3s.
- Quincy Pondexter made his Pelicans debut tonight, and he didn’t disappoint. In 32 minutes of action, he made 3 of 5 shots from beyond the arc, also grabbed 6 rebounds, and dished out 3 assists. Considering what the Pelicans started the season with at the small forward position, the Pelicans could be in pretty good shape with a Q-Pon/Cunningham tandem at that spot moving forward.
- Somewhat related to that last point, Monty Williams played just 8 players tonight, and Tyreke Evans was the only guy who saw over 35 minutes. When Jrue returns, that will level off a bit, so it shouldn’t be a major concern. The main takeaway from this decision is that, when necessary, the Pels can go with a rotation of Jrue-Gordon-Evans/Pondexter-Cunningham/Anderson-Davis-Asik and be more than able to play a full game without allowing any individual player to burn out.
The next game for the Pelicans is Friday night in Philly where they’ll take on the 76ers. If you’re able, come join myself, a few other Bourbon Street Shots writers, and many other Pels fans at Tracey’s for our January watch party! It should be a blast.
15 responses to “Pelicans Outplay Pistons from Start to Finish in 105-94 Victory”
Out rebound opponents by 17! Good games from finds Q-Pon and Jimmer(!) Four players in double figures, five if you add in Asik’s handicap of +2. That’s a nice game.
Our Pels are becoming consistent in one fashion of late; losing games they are supposed to win and winning games they are supposed to lose. I consider tonight the latter given what we’ve seen of late and the Pistons very hot 9-1 run which just passed. Liked the energy Pondexter brought and I think he and Cunningham are a great duo for each lineup. I’m not a groupie, but I felt Fredette’s second quarter points broke us back away from the Pistons after they stormed back pretty quickly. If he could start nailing a few of his 3’s, he’d really be having some better games. Teams definitely trying to take him to the rim defensively though. I think AD played great in many ways tonight, which surprised me only in respect that he has not had great games against physical frontliners, so that was encouraging. I was also surprised that our guys dominated the boards so decisively…I figured Drummond would make Asik look small but that was definitely not the case..the dude really must be a monster..to bad he struggles to score at the rim, but he did well in other areas (Reb, FT, Ast!)
Pelican Poster
You have to balance Detroit’s 9-1 with their playing their last 8 games in 12 days. Maybe scheduling helped us here?
504ever Pelican Poster Certainly could have, but I’ll take it!
And if they lose at Philly and win at Toronto I may be done with them! I wonder if they are unable to find a way to motivate themselves against teams they are supposed to beat on paper? They were doing pretty well on this segment early in the season but right now they are the Bizzaro-Pels! But I guess if that was the case A.D. would be at PG and Asik at SG?!
Also balance out jimmer spurt with the previous few min where they attacked him repeatedly and went on a run. Still it was nice to see him grit it out hit some tough shots and get those points back
I think I’ll go to the watch party this time around. Yall are entertaining on here and on twitter. Should be fun in person too. Can’t wait!
Call me crazy, but eric gordon has been looking fairly decent since coming back.
Jimmer and Augustine have a long history disliking each other. They first had a floor scramble when Jimmer was at Sacramento that started the bad blood, then when Jimmer went to Chicago, the dislike for each other was palpable when they had to play with each other on the court.
So it’s no mystery why they played with a chip on their shoulders last night, each attacking each other. I could tell that Jimmer was pretty winded when he finally went out. DJ came in with fresh legs in the 4th and Jimmer had already been playing 8 min or so. Augustine is already a really fast guard, and it just compounded it when he was playing against a tired Jimmer.
If Jimmer continues to get 15-20 min a night, he’ll get into a better rhythm and his legs will get used to the bigger load. It will take a few games, but he’s going to be a huge spark plug for this team, Monty willing.
When are we going to stop throwing shade at Tyreke Evans? Mason, I’m not trying to call you out specifically, but too many people praise his good games – and, let’s be fair, he’s had many many good games this year – while tacking on, “for once he’s not being selfish.”
Statistically, there’s a very strong argument that he’s our second-best player! Yes, his usage rate is high and he makes some crazy decisions from time-to-time, but we knew that’s what we were getting. You don’t marry someone and then ask them to change who they are.
With that said, here is the list of NBA players who are currently averaging 15 ppg, 5 rbg and 5 apg (and we’re not rounding up stats):
– Blake Griffin
– Kobe Bryant
– Eric Bledsoe
– James Harden
– Russell Westbrook
– Michael Carter-Williams
– LeBron James
– Tyreke Evans
That’s some pretty elite company. Can he improve his game? Absolutely. But so far, Evans has been asked to start, come off the bench, play SG, play SF…now start at PG! Are you kidding me? We are really not being thankful enough for having a guy at that talent level with so much versatility.
Littlewing745 He’s easily our second best player.
nola70118 Littlewing745 love reek’s game but that is a matter for debate. it would be hard to slot him ahead of the two way game of jrue holiday.
the real debate tho, is how come we can’t win more games with the talent we have?
SamuelAdamScott I thought Gordon’s defense on Jennings was excellent.
ilumino I’m hoping that’s the case…but there’s really no evidence he’ll get into a rhythm simply because he played more minutes. I would encourage the people who keep blindly saying Jimmer is the answer at backup PG to examine his numbers since Rivers was traded. It’s not nearly the good news people want to pretend it is.
Littlewing745
I don’t see how anyone could say that Jimmer hasn’t been an improvement over Rivers since Rivers was traded. He’s been pivotal in either bringing the team back from behind (had the team up by 6 in the Celtics loss) or gving them a nice boost (helped with the 2nd qtr blowout in the Pistons game). Monty is mentioning his contributions and so are the post game articles.
When was the last time Austin Rivers got praise from the coach or news articles? When was the last time that Rivers helped the team in key moments like that especially on the offensive end? When was the last time Rivers scored more than 2 points in a game period?
He hasn’t been jaw-droppingly amazing, but he has certainly been decent in the last two games. He’s finding ways to contribute even when his 3s aren’t falling, either through assists, getting to the line, or making contested interior shots. I really don’t see any reason right now to start panicking over a backup PG. He’s been fine, and with more consistent play, should get even better over the next few months.