Cleveland superstar LeBron James was uncertain to play Friday due to left knee soreness, but delivered his typical brand of All-NBA exploits, racking up a season-high 41 points. He still wasn’t the most important player on the floor in a matchup vs. New Orleans.
After a cold shooting stretch in recent games, Ryan Anderson broke out in a big way, draining a career-high-tying eight three-pointers, part of his 30-point game that helped lead the Pelicans to an outstanding victory. New Orleans (11-11) won despite playing the final three-plus quarters without All-Star forward Anthony Davis, who did not return to the game after sustaining a chest contusion.
After the game, Pelicans Coach Monty Williams said Davis’ status is likely to be updated Saturday. The team is scheduled to practice in Metairie.
While Anderson bombed threes from beyond the arc Friday, Pelicans guard Tyreke Evans slashed through the Cleveland defense, finishing 13-for-24 from the field for a team-best 31 points. He also handed out 10 assists. During the second quarter, when New Orleans came to the realization that Davis might not be able to return to the court, seven Pelicans scored, creating a 64-59 halftime lead.
“It was a big win for us,” Williams said. “As I’ve said before, any win in the NBA is hard to come by, but to beat a team like (Cleveland), without AD, and have so many contributions across the board, it’s a special win for us. I’m just proud of the grit we showed.”
In an NBA rarity, New Orleans has had two 30-point scorers in consecutive games – and it was supplied by a total of four players (Davis scored 31 at Dallas on Wednesday; Jrue Holiday deposited 30).
“It says a lot about the talent,” said Luke Babbitt, who canned a back-breaking three-pointer for a 115-107 lead. “Ryan had a great game offensively, carried us during stretches. Tyreke and Jrue, we know what they can do. If guys go down, we’re going to need other guys to step up. That’s big.”
“We’ve got good players on this team. It could be anyone’s night; you just have to be ready,” Evans said. “I think everybody has to be aggressive. I think we realize when it’s someone’s night, we keep going to them. That’s a good thing. We’re going to keep feeding off of that guy.”
“We just kept fighting all game,” said Omer Asik, who helped make up for Davis’ absence inside by grabbing 14 rebounds to go with nine points. “I think we have more than enough to win when someone goes down. The next guy has to step up. That’s what we like to see. I hope he’ll be fine soon, but if not the guys have to step up and play good.”
It became evident in the third quarter that Davis would not return to action, but that was the period New Orleans expanded its lead to 13, by virtue of a 25-17 edge. The Pelicans eventually built a lead of as big as 19 points, without the services of one of the NBA’s premier scorers. Overall, New Orleans shot a scorching 55.7 percent from the field and went 12-for-28 from three-point range. For the second straight game this season against Cleveland, Anderson rang up eight three-pointers. During one second-half stretch Friday, the right-hander had several consecutive heat check shots, including one launch from well beyond the three-point stripe.
“Every time he lets it go, we think it’s going in,” Williams said. “He’s not afraid of big shots, he’s not afraid of the next shot. He had a couple shots where, had he not been rolling, I probably would’ve had a conversation or two with him on the bench. He’s an X-factor for us, a bit of a game-changer. So many defenses are executed to try to take him out, but he still knocked down shots.”
Anderson was 0-for-7 from the three-point arc over the past two games and just 9 of his last 44 treys, a uncharacteristic dry spell for one of the NBA’s best shooters.
“I just wanted to shoot them confidently, even with however many I missed in the past,” Anderson said. “I just wanted to come out aggressively. Tonight we just moved the ball very well and I had some open looks.”
With Davis out of action, Anderson and Evans combined for a workload of 81 minutes. Anderson said that under the circumstances, he didn’t feel much fatigue, knowing the significance of a victory.
“There was a lot of adrenaline,” he said. "That’s a game we wanted to win and that I definitely wanted to be in, and play as hard as I could. Obviously the game is so much easier with Anthony (playing). I hope he’s OK and we’re all thinking about him. But we knew this was a game we had to fight extra hard, play extra hard, without him. I didn’t really have time to think about being tired.”