OKLAHOMA CITY – Four of New Orleans’ top five scorers this season were in street clothes Thursday, but the Pelicans still managed to stay competitive against one of the Western Conference’s premier teams. The Thunder weren’t able to seal their home victory until the final minute, despite facing an inexperienced Pelicans group that was missing Anthony Davis, Julius Randle, Nikola Mirotic and E’Twaun Moore due to injury. Only Jrue Holiday suited up for NOLA among its five most productive offensive players in ’18-19.
IT WAS OVER WHEN…
New Orleans guard Ian Clark couldn’t draw iron on an off-balance three-pointer from the right sideline, giving Oklahoma City the ball and a six-point lead. Russell Westbrook missed both subsequent free throws with 13 seconds left, but the Pelicans couldn’t take advantage, missing another three-point attempt in the final ticks.
PELICANS PLAYER OF THE GAME
Holiday’s near triple-double consisted of 22 points, nine rebounds, 13 assists and four steals, and he was at his best in the fourth quarter, making acrobatic layups and sinking three-pointers to key a 34-24 period in NOLA’s favor. The Pelicans’ second-leading scorer did yeoman’s work to keep the visitors productive at the offensive end without Davis, Randle, Mirotic and Moore, tallying at least 25 points in every quarter.
FOCUS ON: ACROSS-THE-BOARD OPPORTUNITIES
Other than regular starters Holiday and Elfrid Payton, virtually every Pelicans player who got into the game Thursday was asked to do at least a bit more than what they’ve generally provided this season. For instance, the frontcourt trio of Jahlil Okafor (18 points, eight rebounds), Darius Miller (21 points) and Solomon Hill (seven points, five rebounds) gained a major opportunity to play significant minutes. Off the bench, Cheick Diallo (15 points), Kenrich Williams (18 minutes) and Ian Clark have all rarely been on the court in recent weeks, but were needed this time in the rotation. Rookie guard Frank Jackson (12 points) has been playing more lately, but is rarely relied upon to log 26 minutes of action, as he did in OKC.
Add it up and Thursday’s game was unlike virtually any other this season for the Pelicans, with the depth of the roster being tested and several inexperienced pros getting a chance to perform in one of the NBA’s toughest and loudest environments. Several players received high marks for how they responded, with Alvin Gentry noting, “I thought all of our guys played well. There’s not anybody I thought played poorly. Everybody did something to put us in the position where we were.”
“Just how we battled,” Miller said of what he liked most of NOLA’s effort. “I feel like we played with a lot of intensity. (OKC) played really well, but we just came back and fought.”
“We just never gave up,” Okafor said. “We didn’t hold our head down. We didn’t make any excuses. We were very short-handed tonight. We just continued to fight, collectively as a group.
BY THE NUMBERS
34: Pelicans assists, topped by Holiday’s 13 and 12 by Payton.
33-28: New Orleans bench scoring advantage. In many cases there is a domino effect when a team is missing several starters in that it depletes the second unit, but the Pelicans’ revamped reserve group flourished. Diallo and Jackson were plus-15 and plus-12, respectively, in plus-minus.
15-8: Oklahoma City edge in offensive rebounding. Allowing key crunch-time offensive boards has been a sporadic issues for New Orleans in ’18-19 and was again Thursday. Steven Adams grabbed seven.