SAN ANTONIO – Anthony Davis (right elbow sprain) remained questionable on New Orleans’ injury report, after he was a late scratch Thursday just prior to tip-off in Portland. Davis said at Saturday morning’s shootaround that he’s uncertain whether he will play tonight against San Antonio. The five-time All-Star was set to discuss his status later with team doctors and trainers.
Other notes from Saturday shootaround:
New Orleans has allowed 50 percent or better shooting from the three-point line in two consecutive games, an area that needs improvement and could be critical vs. San Antonio, which has a plethora of perimeter threats. The Spurs rank sixth in the NBA in three-point percentage (39.1) and have surrounded top scorers DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge with players who can hurt a defense from long range.
“That’s definitely a point of emphasis,” Davis said of defending three-pointers. “But for us, DeMar and LaMarcus are the head of the snake. We have to try to limit those guys. They are the No. 1 post-up team, mainly due to those guys, and other guys play well off of them.” …
Davis, alluding to the Pelicans dropping four straight games (three without him) following a 4-0 start: “It’s still early in the season. We are going to come fight every night, whether we are up or down. We’ve come back in some of those (recent losses), but it’s been uphill the whole second half.” …
As much as the three-point line has been damaging to New Orleans’ defense recently, while facing San Antonio, the Pelicans also must be aware of backcuts and late-possession passing, two areas where the Spurs have been above average for many years.
“Defending for 24 seconds (is important),” Pelicans guard Jrue Holiday said of the Spurs. “They’re the type of team that executes very well, a lot of times deep into the clock, (or) they get an offensive rebound. To be able to defend for the whole clock and (defensive) rebound, we can definitely use our speed to get easy buckets.” …
Holiday on how offenses have changed their approach compared to early in his NBA career: “Back then, mid-range was the killer (to a defense). If bigs popped, they’d pop only out to 15 to 18 feet (instead of the three-point line). It gets tough; there is more space (today) for guys to work. Obviously people are shooting like 40 feet out now, so that gets kind of tough too. But that’s what makes it fun.”