featured-image

Pelicans shootaround update presented by HUB International: Andre Drummond may join Anthony Davis on sideline Wednesday

Based on his career statistics, Anthony Davis should enjoy playing against the Detroit Pistons as much as any NBA opponent – the five-time All-Star has averaged 28.2 points on 57.6 percent shooting in 11 matchups, both near the best he’s performed vs. the league’s other 29 franchises. Unfortunately for Davis and New Orleans (22-25), he will miss a second straight game Wednesday due to injury when Detroit makes its lone visit to the Smoothie King Center of 2018-19. He may not be alone as a prominent frontcourt player sidelined for Pistons-Pelicans. Detroit center Andre Drummond, the NBA’s leading rebounder at 14.9 per game, hasn’t played in the last two games for the Pistons due to a concussion. Drummond’s status was expected to be updated at some point Wednesday.

Other notes from Wednesday’s shootaround:

New Orleans center Jahlil Okafor is coming off his best game of the season Monday in Memphis, posting 20 points and 10 rebounds. The Pelicans are one of the NBA’s deepest teams in terms of frontcourt talent, including Davis, Julius Randle and Nikola Mirotic, which is how they were still able to bring Mirotic (shot 5/12 from three-point range) off the bench against the Grizzlies despite Davis’ absence.

“He played great for us,” reserve forward Darius Miller said of Okafor’s 20-10 game. “He was a huge part of the win. He really let the offense come to him, played physical with high intensity. We really needed that from him… He demands a lot of attention. I think (opponents) are going to have to start sending two people at him. I think we’ll all benefit from him.”

On the major positive of having Mirotic be part of the second unit, Miller said, “He can get hot, and he’s another player who demands a lot of attention. For him to come off the bench and be able to score, get hot that quick, he’s huge for us.” …

The Pelicans are 2-4 this season when Davis is sidelined, but have won the past two games, Dec. 31 vs. Minnesota and Monday at Memphis. New Orleans has been forced to make tweaks to its offense, but Jrue Holiday noted this morning that it would be nearly impossible to make sweeping changes: “It’d be tough to rethink everything. I just feel like people have to step up and do a little bit more. Anthony did so much for us, where he rebounded, protected the rim, scored the majority of the points, controlled the paint for us. Now we have people to try to fill that void. Julius and Jahlil have done a great job in the paint, picking up the scoring, same thing with Niko off the bench. Defensively, we have to be even more on a string. With Anthony back there (as the NBA’s second-best shot-blocker), we can make a couple more mistakes and he’ll protect us. At this point, we can’t really do that.” …

Okafor provides an element that is increasingly vanishing from the NBA, a throwback big man who can score around the basket via low-post moves. Holiday on Okafor: “There are no really traditional bigs anymore. For someone like him, who is pretty much a guard in a big’s body, he can do everything. He can face you up in the post, go back to the basket. He’s a load down there. Between him and Julius, I think we give teams a problem.” …

New Orleans allowed just 85 points to Memphis two days ago, a season low for the Pelicans’ defense. Holiday was pleased with the type of shots the Grizzlies were forced into firing: “Our scheme (was effective), running people off the three-point line and covering for each other. They don’t take a lot of threes, but they usually shoot them pretty well. We contested them a lot. They took a lot of contested mid-rangers, which we’ll live with it.”

Miller on what was most encouraging about NOLA’s defense: “I think we communicated better, helped each other a lot better. Hopefully we can continue to do that throughout the season.”