In a rare blowout win this season, the Pelicans put 63 on the Wolves in the first half and were up 95-70 to start the fourth. The final score of 116-102 came when the Pels put in their scrubs with 3:30 to go and ceased to play hard.
The game ball needs to go to Jrue Holiday today. Box Score aficionado’s may like Davis or Anderson a bit more, but when Jrue stepped on the court, he got into the paint whenever he wanted to. His aggression led little runs that found open shooters and Davis on the move for and-ones and ripped off two different runs of 12-1 and 10-0. Jrue has these games where you see everything people hoped for. If he can have them a little more consistently, he’s can be pretty special.
The Pelicans continue to do well when they can score 100+.
Observations:
- Zach Lavine is an awful on ball defender. Awful. There are lots of players in the league who suck at help defense, because help defense is difficult. But when Zach Lavine meets a pick, he simply stops. There’s just no fight in him to get over that screen. When Zach Lavine is supposed to push a guy baseline – he does. But he doesn’t move with the guy. It’s more like he’s opening the runway, not trying to pressure his guy out of bounds while slowing him so a big can rotate over. He just angles them that way and wishes them good luck.
- Rubio, on the other hand, is a very good defender. The few times Jrue could be stopped was when Rubio got switched onto him. He’s physical, got quick hands, and is smart.
- I really want to know what Ryan Anderson was so steamed about at the end of the first quarter. He was snarling walking back to the bench and when we came back, he was talking fast and angrily with Davis – and my lip reading made me think it was something about “that’s his man” and “he shoulda put a ring on it.” I think part of that is wrong.
- Gorgui Dieng plays all out when he’s on the court. He’s not always in the right spot – he’s not always doing the right thing – but he tries so damn hard he makes a difference. When he was guarding Anthony Davis, he gave very little easy to the big man.
- Wiggins has absolutely mastered the Paul Pierce two dribble, lean into your man shot. Mastered it. He drew several fouls on defenders just by leaning in as he took the jumper. What he doesn’t show is that explosive handle that lets him get to the rim. It limits him and essentially makes him unable to get the step needed that lets him shoot layups rather than 10-footers.
- Towns is a bonfide monster.
- Dejean-Jones had a tough game tonight. He got hammered on a drive and didn’t get the call, and then made a trio of costly mistakes before having to cover for Cole’s terrible perimeter defense and fouling people.
Two more games before the All-star break. Wednesday at home versus Utah and a road game in OKC on Friday!
One response to “Pelicans thrash the Wolves”
At halftime, Babbit and Anderson were something like 18 points and 12 combined shots. Getting a contribution like that from Babbit (who was +10 in 15 minutes) was a big boost.