The Pelicans beat the Lakers


For the first quarter, you had to wonder if the Pelicans were going to bother playing hard in this one.  Their offense was clicking – which can be a recipe for them to not try so hard on defense.  And in the first, they definitely weren’t trying.  To give you an idea of the sort of defense that was being played – there were 8 dunks in the first quarter and both Ryan Kelly and Ryan Anderson drove from the three point line and dunked at different times.  Oh, and Asik did a crossover on Jordan Hill and then took him to the basket for a layup – from a step inside the three point line.

Yeah.  Defense not included.  In the second, the Pelicans tightened up their defense a little – and their own offense continued to carve apart the “defense” of the Lakers.  The game was really over half way through the third.

The best part of the game was seeing Ryan Anderson out there and playing well on the road – both things we haven’t seen enough of this season.

Observations:

  • The Pelicans clearly told Davis to not leave Ryan Kelly alone out there, but it took a while for him to adjust.  He and Tyreke screwed up the first play of the game with a miscommunication on a pick and pop with Kelly that left Davis wildly out of position.  That continued throughout the night as Davis tried to block every Kelly shot and kept getting upfaked out of good defensive position.
  • Anderson didn’t get to touch the ball for the 3 minutes he played in the first.  In response the Pelicans ran a play for him to get a touch on the first offensive set of the second quarter.  It resulted in a bad iso and jumper.  Yech.
  • That wasn’t the case later in the quarter though, once Davis checked back in for Ajinca.  The Pelicans kept overloading the left side and running a pick and roll at the top with Davis while Anderson floated to the right corner.  They’d run the pick and roll, Davis would dive right at Anderson’s defender who had to crash down to stop him while Anderson floated up to the wing.  It kept creating so much space that Anderson got wide open looks.
  • It’s hard to say who Anderson stole minutes from since the Pelicans played their bench a lot during the blowout.  It seems like he took minutes from Ajinca and Pondexter, though.  Cunningham still got his 20.
  • Davis was controlling the offense tonight, and was visibly directing traffic so he could feed cutters.   He finished with 6 assists and he continues to become more and more comfortable as the team’s offensive hub.  He also had a nice alley-oop, some sweet runners, and his usual locked in jumpers.  He even managed to score 20 on 15 shots even though the Lakers weren’t interested in fouling anyone anywhere.
  • Evans could get wherever he wanted against the Lakers.
  • 9-16 is pretty good shooting from three, that’s for sure, but I can’t remember any of those threes being contested.  Yes, that’s how bad the Lakers defense was.  I can’t remember a single contested three point attempt by the Pelicans.
  • Toney Douglas’ energy is great.  Like I said on the podcast during his earlier stint with the team:  It’s nice to have a player you tell “Go out there make that guy’s life suck for 4 minutes.”
  • 31 assists on 44 shots.  Pels were moving the ball.

Sacramento on Friday!  With OKC losing to Dallas tonight, the 8th seed is in striking distance!


2 responses to “The Pelicans beat the Lakers”

  1. I told a friend of mine near the end of the first that we were going to need Cole and Douglas to come in and shut down the second team of the Lakers…well I think they did a good job of that and maybe some of the first teamers too as our second unit changed the tone and effort of our defense after that.  Cole was fantastic tonight, Anderson looked better(?) on his shot than before he left, and the ASIK drive brought the bench on their feet.  It looked like the guys were enjoying themselves tonight and how could they not when shooting almost 60% for the game.  Just the kind of game we needed going into a game Friday that concerns me as the Kings barely lost on the road to the Rockets tonight 115-111.  These games are the keys to our chance to make the playoffs with the Thunder’s hardest games occurring now, as well.

  2. If Pelicans close well and grab the last playoff spot, that means the whole SouthWest Division is in the playoffs. That’s really amazing, that that’s a possibility despite beating up each other during the season. With the cap scheduled to jump, it means that everyone theoretically should be able to hold onto their core and maybe steal a few pieces. But having AD as our standard bearer, while the Mavs, Grizzlies, and Spurs age, and maybe Howard starts to break down with more frequency given the miles adding up on the odometer, could open a path for this team within next 2-3 years. It’ll be interesting, to say the least.

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