ATLANTA – New Orleans and Atlanta won’t be headed to the NBA playoffs this spring, but both teams have hope for better results next season and beyond, partly based on young players gaining ample experience over the final month of 2018-19. Although top first-year pro Trae Young mostly struggled for the Hawks on Sunday, fellow rookie Kevin Huerter was excellent, leading the hosts with 27 points in a victory. Meanwhile, New Orleans rook Frank Jackson helped keep the Pelicans close by dropping in 23 points, approaching his career high of 25. Jackson was 10/18 from the field, in addition to dishing six assists.
“There is a big picture we’ve got to look at,” Pelicans fourth-year head coach Alvin Gentry said of his team's approach, emphasizing improvement and development. “We want to get guys valuable time on the floor. From there, hopefully that’s going to translate in the future into something that’s good.”
IT WAS OVER WHEN…
Young drove into the teeth of the New Orleans defense and dropped in a layup, giving Atlanta a 10-point lead with roughly 2:30 remaining. The Hawks swatted away a shot on the next Pelicans possession. It was only Young's second basket of Sunday's game, in 14 attempts.
PELICANS PLAYER OF THE GAME
Elfrid Payton reached a triple-double in the final minute of regulation, posting 15 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in his 31 minutes of action.
By doing so, he became the sixth player in New Orleans franchise history to register more than one triple-double with the team.
FOCUS ON: AN NBA DEBUT
Latvian guard Dairis Bertans played in his first NBA game Sunday, with no New Orleans team practices or shootarounds under his belt. One of the top shooters in Europe this winter, Bertans logged six minutes of playing time and only got one shot attempt, a 20-foot jumper he missed after coming around a screen. Not surprisingly given his track record, Bertans displayed a smooth shooting stroke during warmups at State Farm Arena, but didn’t get many opportunities during his second-quarter stint.
“That’s tough,” Payton said of Bertans jumping right into the fray with little preparation. “A credit to him. He played solid, not knowing any defensive things or much offensively what we do. He did well. It’s a tough situation, but he has a good mindset, and we were encouraging him, too.”
Gentry called it difficult to evaluate much from Bertans’ debut, but was pleased to get him on the floor. The Pelicans will have 13 more games to try to incorporate the 29-year-old.
“I don’t even look at it as anything (to examine),” Gentry said of Bertans’ cameo. “I just wanted to get him on the floor and get him five or six minutes here or there, kind of let him get acclimated. He didn’t get into a practice or a shootaround; all he did was get into a game where he has no idea what we’re (running as a team). We’ll have plenty of time to stick him in games and situations where we can try to help him, as far as creating shots for him.”
BY THE NUMBERS
18/41: New Orleans three-point shooting, an excellent performance. Julius Randle (tied for team high with 23 points) led the way by going 4/6, while Jackson, Anthony Davis and Darius Miller each connected three times.
17/37: Atlanta three-point shooting. As good as the Pelicans were from the arc, the Hawks were even better, with an incrementally better percentage. Huerter’s four treys led a group of five Hawks who made at least two trifectas.
8: New Orleans turnovers. After a recent poor stretch of committing too many in several games, this was one area of improvement for the Pelicans on Sunday. The downside was Atlanta converted those into 16 points, an extremely high rate.