New Orleans had a depleted bench Wednesday and was facing the Western Conference’s best team record-wise, but behind a monster performance by Anthony Davis and 20-plus points by two other starters, the Pelicans picked up a key early-season victory. New Orleans headed into a rare three-day break from games in positive fashion, holding off Oklahoma City’s late-game rally on ESPN.
IT WAS OVER WHEN…
Oklahoma City reserve guard Alex Abrines had a chance to win it with a deep right-wing three-point attempt, but he misfired and Solomon Hill rebounded for New Orleans. Hill went to the foul line with four-tenths of a second left and sank both free throws, icing the Pelicans’ win.
PELICANS PLAYER OF THE GAME
Davis posted a season high of 44 points, the sixth time he’s compiled 40-plus points this season (New Orleans is 4-2 in those instances). Davis also approached his top rebounding game of ’18-19, pulling down 18 boards (20 at Toronto on Nov. 12 is his most caroms this season). The five-time All-Star was aggressive on offense, going 16/32 from the field and 11/11 at the foul line, adding one three-point make.
The NBA’s leader in average minutes played per game, Davis added to that figure by logging 40 minutes vs. Oklahoma City. Prior to Wednesday’s contest, Alvin Gentry noted that one short-term objective is to begin reducing the workload for Davis and Jrue Holiday, who is second in the NBA in minutes and logged 34 against the Thunder. Davis noted postgame that he’s happy to play as many minutes as Gentry and the team needs. The 25-year-old, seventh-year pro responded to a question about his heavy minutes by saying “I’m 25. Ask me in five years.”
FOCUS ON: TEAM-WIDE CONTRIBUTIONS
The revised plan to have Nikola Mirotic (ankle) and E’Twaun Moore (leg) be the featured elements of the bench never really got off the ground, because those players are both sidelined and seemed to be negatively impacted by health issues recently. With them out of action, it fell upon Darius Miller (10 points, 4/6 shooting) and Frank Jackson (eight points, 3/5 shooting) to make bigger impacts in the second unit. Jackson provided one of his most valuable contributions of ’18-19 after a stint in the G League, while only Cheick Diallo (15 minutes) and Andrew Harrison (seven minutes) got playing time among the other reserves. Gentry’s stated goal of cutting back on some of the starters’ minutes would be aided considerably if New Orleans can get improved play from its backups, but what also could help is a stretch starting Thursday in which the Pelicans only have one game in a six-day span. Mirotic and Moore may both need some time to rest and heal before New Orleans is willing to put them back in action, but the schedule actually provides an assist this week.
Among the starters, Hill (seven rebounds, three offensively) and Tim Frazier (six points, nine assists and only one turnover, nine rebounds) helped the high-scoring trio of Davis, Holiday (22 points) and Julius Randle (20 points) in other areas.
BY THE NUMBERS
17-9: New Orleans advantage in offensive rebounds. Davis grabbed six and every other Pelicans starter collected at least two. Davis noted postgame that the team’s nightly goal is 12 offensive boards.
18-18: Tie in turnovers for the Thunder and the Pelicans, problematic for both teams throughout the game, but nearly extremely costly for New Orleans in the final few minutes.
18: New Orleans three-point attempts, the fewest the Pelicans have taken in any game this season. Holiday was 1/6, while no one else took more than three.