The New Orleans Pelicans fell to 4-12, ending their only winning streak of the season at length 3 and shoring up their 14th seed position in the Western Conference, 4 games behind 8th and 5 other teams in between that also need to be passed. Moreover, Anthony Davis took a couple tumbles on the game, with the most significant by far being one that has led to at least a knee contusion.

Focusing first on game play, the Pelicans were matching the Clippers pretty well for about 7 minutes. After that, the Clippers scored very quickly, and while the Pelicans got to within 5 points at a couple points, the Clippers were truly maintaining about an 8-point cushion for a long stretch. Then, the wheels came off, and the Pelicans went into the half down 21, 63-42.

Much of the problem was the fast break. The Pelicans had had 2 points on the break, but the Clippers had 19. The Pelicans were either attacking the rim or taking a decent shot from the perimeter and dropping back on defense, largely abandoning offensive rebounds. The Clippers were creating their success by finding creases in the defense before it got set. They took longer and what would normally be more risky passes, but were rewarded.

In the third, the Pelicans took up their rim attacks again and the Clippers fouled the Pelicans 3 times quite quickly in one possession with about 9 minutes left in the quarter. The Pelicans did not get stops at first, but eventually started to close the gap as fouls on key Clippers mounted. This was when Davis got hurt, and the game was permanently out of reach.

Davis will be evaluated further. A contusion can be many things and can also mask many things, so patience is key here. Davis was clearly grimacing on the court while he was down for several minutes. Then, he could not complete his walk to the locker room, and he was carried to the locker room by Perkins and Ajinca in Globetrotter fashion. Davis returned to the bench, so the injury is not obviously crippling.

Other notes:

• Holiday sat after played just 13 minutes due to picking up 3 fouls early, Davis’ injury. and the score of the game. It’s unclear if this will affect his availability tomorrow.
• Asik played just 15 minutes while Jordan played 25. See Holiday comment sans fouls.
• The Pelicans were woefully inefficient tonight on offense and defense: 90 points on 94 shots compared to 111 points on 83 shots. Of the Pelicans who took at least 10 shots, only one was better than 1 pps: Eric Gordon (16 points, 12 shots).

The Pelicans play the Jazz at 8pm CT (UTC -6). The Jazz are 7-7, having the beat the Clippers Wednesday, and have no new injuries.

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