With the outcome virtually decided in the fourth quarter Wednesday, Austin Rivers dribbled uncontested to the basket on the right side and scooped in a layup. The Smoothie King Center crowd was ecstatic, knowing that Rivers’ easy hoop meant New Orleans had scored 100-plus points, meaning free French fries at Buffalo Wild Wings for all fans. There were still eight minutes left.
New Orleans (4-3) used a parade of dunks and point-blank scores to roll to a superb offensive performance against the NBA’s lowest-rated defense. The Pelicans totaled a whopping 60 points in the paint, including 21 layups and five dunks. New Orleans shot 54.9 percent, pulling away from Los Angeles (1-7) behind a third-quarter surge.
Two days after struggling through a 2-for-14 shooting night in Cleveland, Pelicans forward Tyreke Evans bounced back in a big way, registering 19 points and a team-best 11 assists. Evans’ prolific passing spearheaded a New Orleans attack that finished with 27 assists, many of which resulted in a basket at the rim. Evans spent part of Tuesday night watching the Lakers-Grizzlies game on TV, a viewing that proved helpful on the court Wednesday.
“I watched the (Memphis) game last night and I knew they were going to be a little sluggish, a little tired,” Evans said of the Lakers playing back-to-back games. “(I was) just pushing the ball, making them collapse on me and finding guys – Jrue (Holiday), Ryan (Anderson), Anthony (Davis). If not, I’ve got the lane opened up and I’ve just got to finish layups.”
Six of Evans’ eight baskets came on layups, while Davis notched a team-best 25 points on ultra-efficient 12-for-16 shooting. Davis too feasted around the rim, throwing down four dunks to go with three layups. Jrue Holiday and Ryan Anderson delivered 17 points apiece, meaning the Pelicans received 78 points from their top four scorers.
New Orleans led just 63-60 midway through the third quarter before breaking the game open with a 22-12 surge to close the period. The Pelicans went up by as many as 23 points in the fourth quarter, taking out their primary players with a few minutes remaining. The Lakers went on a mini-run at the end of regulation to make the final score much more competitive.
“We got stops, tried to run and got easy buckets in transition,” Davis said. “We tried to come out well at the start of the third quarter, and try to build that lead. We know that anybody that has Kobe Bryant on their team is always in the game.”
Bryant, who has averaged more points in his career vs. New Orleans than any other NBA franchise, totaled 33 points, but he required 28 shots from the field to do so. The Lakers shot just 41.7 percent, unable to take advantage of committing only nine turnovers.
“I thought we played good defense,” Holiday said. “We tried to crowd him and make sure he sees one or two (extra defenders). We did a good job of that. We wanted to give Kobe a lot of different looks and try to make him uncomfortable. Try to make it difficult for him. We know he can score from anywhere. We just threw a lot of stuff at him.”
New Orleans moved back above .500 for the third time this season and will have a chance to go two games over the break-even mark for the first time Friday vs. Minnesota. The Pelicans improved to 3-1 at home.
“We’re starting to play better and better as the season goes on,” said Holiday, who handed out five assists to go with his 17 points. “The more we’re able to practice and play together the better we will get. As long as we can stay healthy, we should have a good season ahead of us.”