Pelicans (18-27), Cavaliers (30-13)
Cleveland put a trio of household names on the Smoothie King Center floor Monday, but with Anthony Davis sidelined by a right quad contusion, New Orleans had none. Unable to lean on their 23-year-old franchise player as they’ve done all season, the Pelicans’ Jrue Holiday and Terrence Jones instead played like All-Stars themselves.
Jones tied his career high with 36 points, while Holiday deposited 33 to power New Orleans to its top offensive performance of the season. The Pelicans shot 49.4 percent from the floor against the defending NBA champions, including going 16 of 39 from three-point range, equaling a season-best in three-point makes and coming one shy of tying the franchise record.
The win was even more difficult for New Orleans to secure given that it came despite Cleveland’s Kyrie Irving playing a fantastic individual game and racking up 49 points.
IT WAS OVER WHEN…
Solomon Hill rolled in the second of two free throws with 11 seconds left, followed by Cleveland misfiring on a three-pointer that kept the margin at 123-119. After Jones also went 1 of 2 at the stripe, the Cavaliers sank a trifecta with 0.9 seconds remaining, but the Pelicans inbounded quickly and ran out the final fraction of a second.
PELICANS PLAYER OF THE GAME
Holiday and Jones shared in-arena Pelivision honors as stars of the game, combining for 69 points, while also providing a wide range of other contributions. En route to authoring the 14th game of 30-plus points in his NBA career, Holiday went for six rebounds, 10 assists, three steals and two blocks. Meanwhile, Jones described his Monday outing as perhaps the best all-around game of his five-year pro career, adding 11 rebounds, two blocks and three steals to his 36 points. Jones also notched a season-high three makes from three-point range.
PELICANS UNSUNG CONTRIBUTOR
Langston Galloway has been one of the NBA’s premier fourth-quarter shooters all season, a trend he continued Monday, while helping put away the Cavaliers. The Baton Rouge native and fan favorite twice buried a three-pointer early in the final period to help keep Cleveland at arm’s length. With less than a minute remaining and the Pelicans up by four, he stripped LeBron James, a crucial steal. After sinking two free throws at the other end, Galloway had 12 points and had given New Orleans a 122-116 edge.
QUOTES TO NOTE
“It was a good win. (The Cavaliers) were at full strength and obviously (we were) missing AD (Anthony Davis) and Dante (Cunningham) almost wasn’t able to play either. He had a little stomach situation right before we (tipped) off. I just thought it was a game that we competed like crazy and played hard and then got a lead, knowing at some stage they were going to make a run. I thought we did a good job of holding them off, making enough plays offensively, but making enough big plays defensively also.” – Alvin Gentry summarizing the victory
“It was a big win. Obviously, we got a little embarrassed last Friday, but we came out against the world champions and got a win at home.” – Holiday on the Pelicans bouncing back from the 29-point loss vs. Brooklyn three days earlier
“We did a good job defensively, (even though) we did give up a ton of points. It’s hard to stop them when they spread the floor and have LeBron James coming downhill at you, like a locomotive. You’ve got to pick your poison when they have their three-point shooters out there.” – Gentry on facing a high-powered Cleveland attack
“We just didn’t respect them. Terrence Jones got it going early. We know he’s not a great three-point shooter, but once he scored 15 of the first 19 points, you think you got it going. We couldn’t control him after that.” – Cleveland’s Tyronn Lue on his team giving up 124 points to a short-handed New Orleans team
“It’s one game. For us, it’s all about creating consistency. We have to do it the next game and the next game and the next game.” – Gentry on the biggest key for his team as it goes forward, with upcoming home games on the docket vs. Oklahoma City, San Antonio and Washington
BY THE NUMBERS
22: Biggest lead of game for New Orleans. Cleveland never led, but mounted a second-half rally after trailing 70-50 at halftime.
40-13: Advantage in bench scoring for the Pelicans, who were led by Donatas Motiejunas’ 14 and Galloway’s 12. Tyreke Evans drove to the hoop often and chipped in 12 points.
25/37: Combined shooting from the field by Holiday and Jones, meaning the two top offensive threats made over two-thirds of their attempts.
11-3: New Orleans edge in blocked shots, including three by Jones and two apiece from Holiday and Hill.