The Pelicans' Ryan Anderson wasted no time making his presence immediately known in his first game for New Orleans this regular season after a suffering a painful chipped toe, as he helped lift New Orleans past the 76ers 135-98.
The popular forward scored 26 points-- hitting six 3-pointers -- in 26 minutes of play, during a game that Anderson worried would test his endurance.
"I told coach, `Let me go, and if I'm not feeling it or if I'm feeling pretty gassed or something I'll let you know,'" Anderson said. "But I felt great."
The Pelicans led 34-22 after the first period ended, behind a monstrous quarter from Anderson, who knocked down his first four shots, including two 3-point attempts, en route to a 10 point first quarter.
"A big difference is we weren't forcing shots. We were moving the ball to the open man," Anderson said. "Guys did a great job of finding me. We made the right choices tonight."
At least in this initial test, Anderson seems to be ready to build on last season's performance of logging 213 3-point field goals, which ranked 2nd in the NBA.
He also seemed to be just the spark this young team needed to shake off a painful road trip and refocus.
The most points the Pelicans bench had scored in a game this season was 44 points vs. Chicago on November 2. In the first half alone, the Pelicans bench, led by Anderson, poured in 33 points, outscoring the Sixers 33-9 in the process.
Forward Anthony Davis was back to his record-setting ways. With 5 blocks in the first quarter, Davis tied a franchise record for blocks in a quarter. By the time the game ended, Davis had set a new career-high for blocks by logging eight. He also had 13 and 9 rebounds.
The Pelicans seemed like a different team than the one who went 0-3 on their recent road trip out West. Through three quarters, New Orleans scored 103 points. Consider that their previous high for points in an entire game was 105 points. In the end, after scoring 30-plus points in every quarter, eight Pelicans scored in double digits, and the team finished with a 60.5 shooting percentage.
Starting point guard Jrue Holiday was in that number of players in double digits. His 14 points and 12 assists must have felt good against a team that traded him for the Pelicans draft pick Nerlens Noel, even if Holiday is too classy to say much in that department.
New Orleans hopes to let it's play do the talking again Wednesday at home in a rematch against the Utah Jazz, who handed the Pelicans an embarrassing 111-105 loss at the end of New Orleans' most recent road trip.
Key to the game: The Pelicans jumped out to an early lead and sustained it. After scoring 30+ points in a quarter only four times all season coming in to tonight, the Pels did it in each of the first three
