Player Grades: New Orleans Pelicans win second game with Jrue Holiday, beat Charlotte Hornets at home
Losing 10 of 12 games is a bad sign for any season, but Jrue Holiday inspired hope tonight, leading the New Orleans Pelicans to a second straight win.
The return of Pelicans star Jrue Holiday sparked much needed optimism among the New Orleans Pelicans fanbase. New Orleans would capitalize off of that momentum tonight.
Following up on their best win of the season last night, New Orleans responded with resilient effort tonight. Both teams started off the game shooting poorly, but Charlotte would hold a steady lead throughout due to the Pelicans inability to shoot from behind the arc. While the Pelicans were struggling from deep, the Hornets would find the touch from some hot shooting from Marco Bellinelli (and to a lesser degree Frank Kaminsky).
New Orleans came into the 4th quarter trailing by 11 points, but ironically the three point shot would bring them back into the game. Particularly fiery was Langston Galloway, who nailed three straight from distance, and got fouled a fourth attempt. His hot shooting allowed New Orleans to gain ground while also helping them withstand the Bellinelli buzzsaw.
The Pelicans late-game execution has been an issue for them all season, but tonight, they delivered. New Orleans trailed by deficits of three points and two points with less than 2:00 minutes remaining, yet they responded well enough to bring the game into overtime. Once the game got to overtime, the greatness of Anthony Davis pulled them through. Davis scored 8 in overtime to close the door on Charlotte.
Below are grades from tonights back and forth affair.
Tim Frazier
PG , New Orleans Pelicans
B-The boxscore does not accurately capture how Tim Frazier played tonight. On the surface a stat line of 17,5,8 looks nice, and to be fair he did play well offensively, but his defense was sub-par tonight. The Hornets ran Frazier through screens repeatedly, and due to his small stature he struggled to fight through them. It led to a number of open threes. Frazier also would get switched onto a bigger player and often times that leads to easy buckets. It’s been something the Pelicans have dealt with all season, and if he’s providing value offensively like he did tonight, you just have to live with the defense. Frazier– for all his struggles– still managed to be a +14 when on the court. His lack of two-way ability does hamper his grade tonight, however.
E'twaun Moore
SG, New Orleans Pelicans
D E’Twaun Moore has taken a backseat as of late. He started off the season very well, and looked to be one of the team’s best signings. However tonight he struggled to find any sort of rhythm. Moore shot 1-7 from the field, and really failed to make any mark on the game. He only played 18 minutes, as it looks like Gentry is going with the hot hand approach with the guard rotation. I was surprised to see Moore out of the game late in the fourth quarter, but it’s understandable considering Langston Galloway was shooting fire. Still, Moore’s minutes will be something to monitor going forward.
Dante Cunningham
F, New Orleans Pelicans
C Dante Cunningham is a clear favorite of Alvin Gentry’s. He played a team high in minutes tonight (42:40), and did adequately. His defense picked up as the game went along, he did a good job of switching through screens, which may be why Gentry favors him so much. His versatility still makes him valuable on defense, and the added threat of a three point shot make him a decent player for any team. Still, seeing Cunningham play 42 minutes is surprising in any regard. Cunningham did hit a big three in the 4th quarter to spark the Pelicans’ comeback, and for that he gets a good grade. Also, I expect Cunningham threes to go in more than any of his mid range shots– what a world.
Anthony Davis
PF, New Orleans Pelicans
A+Anthony Davis with another 38-point, 16-rebound, 3-block outing. The most ridiculous thing about his start to the season is that I have come to expect dominance like this. I am more surprised if he doesn’t reach these numbers than when he does, and that’s insane. Tonight, the Hornets had no answer for him. He was too quick for any of the Charlotte bigs to contend with him. When the Hornets countered with the smaller Marvin Williams, Davis was patient and used his length to create a high-quality look. This has been a massive area of growth for Davis this season. In the past, smaller but quicker wings would have given Davis trouble. That has not been the case this year, nor was it tonight. AD also hit two big three-pointers, and if that starts becoming a real thing.. LOOK OUT. Its clear Davis has benefitted from the return of Jrue Holiday; he’s been getting much cleaner looks, and has found more space due to the threat Holiday brings. In the fourth quarter, when New Orleans ran a pick-and-roll with Jrue and Davis, both defenders collapsed to contest a Holiday layup, leaving Davis there for the easy, game-tying putback.
Omer Asik
C , New Orleans Pelicans
D+ Omer Asik struggled in what appeared to be a decent matchup for him. The Hornets isolated him in the pick-and-roll, and got their guards to run at him. Asik was to slow to recover and it resulted in easy layups. The Hornets also shot the ball from the outside a ton, which nullified Asik’s ability to protect the paint. Asik played only 13 minutes and finished a team worst -13 when on the court tonight.
Jrue Holiday
PG, New Orleans Pelicans
AJrue Holiday has quickly reminded Pelicans fans why they were so eager to see him return. For the second game in the row, Holiday came off the bench and made a huge difference. The Pelicans offense looks like a completely different one when he’s running the show. Holiday drew a lot of attention with his penetration tonight, and besides an overtime charge, he usually made the correct decision. His decisiveness has made a big difference. Holiday is alway under control with the basketball, and that allows him to find weaknesses in the defense and exploit them. 2-0 so far since his return and if him and Davis stay healthy, things get interesting for the Pelicans.
Langston Galloway
G, New Orleans Pelicans
ALangston Galloway was the X-factor tonight. Galloway found the hot hand in the 4th quarter and brought the Pelicans back from the jaws of defeat. Galloway is the definition of a microwave shooter. As frustrating as it is to watch some nights, it can equally be jaw-dropping. Tonight, fortunately for the Pelicans, it was the latter. Galloway is far from consistent though, and will have his “WTF” moments. For instance, Gentry ran a great play out of a timeout in the fourth quarter to get Galloway open on a curl at the free throw line. He air=balled the sitter…but you take the good and the bad on this offense and hope there’s more good than bad.
Terrence Jones
F, New Orleans Pelicans
FOutside of a couple of made shots, Terrence Jones was terrible tonight. He gambled too much for blocks on defense, which left guys open on the perimeter. Offensively, he was baited into taking jumpers, and it worked. Kudos to the Hornets for not often falling into the trap that is a Terrence Jones pump-fake.
Solomon Hill
F, New Orleans Pelicans
C-Solomon Hill drove to the rim twice, both times drawing fouls. That’s it for him offensively, if I remember correctly. His defense tonight, like Cunningham’s, picked up a lot in the second half. He did a great job on switches, and his versatility in switching onto different types of players bothered Charlotte. There was a play in the second-half in which Nicolas Batum ran through two screens before ending up right in front of Solomon Hill. Batum was forced to settle for a contested fade-away mid range shot. He made it, but it was good to see the recognition and positioning by Hill. Hill also had an outstanding two-handed block on Michael Kidd Gilchrist in the fourth.
Buddy Hield
G, New Orleans Pelicans
FBuddy Hield only played 5 minutes tonight and struggled. He was lost on defense and missed two jumpers. He converted a nice fast break lay-in, but it seems Buddy Buckets will be put on hold for the time being as Holiday soaks up more and more minutes. That’s what must be done if the Pelicans want the best chance to win.
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