PORTLAND – New Orleans guard Jrue Holiday puts Dante Cunningham in some elite NBA company when he discusses the forward's ability to track down opponents on fast breaks and come up with highlight-reel blocks from out of nowhere.
“I'd say probably besides LeBron (James), he's chasing people down and blocking shots off the backboard (as well as anyone). No easy layups,” Holiday said of Cunningham's knack for swooping in for rejections, a la “King James” during Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals at Golden State.
Unfortunately for the Pelicans (6-10, winners of four straight), they're expected to be without Cunningham for the next 4-6 weeks, after he sustained a leg fracture during Wednesday's win over Minnesota. A tireless defender who often draws difficult assignments, it will be difficult to replicate what Cunningham has brought to the starting lineup; New Orleans likely needs a group effort to continue holding down opponents. Entering Friday's game against Portland, the Pelicans won the previous two games by big margins, giving up just 94 and 96 points to Atlanta and Minnesota, respectively.
The Pelicans went 6-2 over the past eight games after Cunningham was moved into the starting lineup, after starting 0-8. He was also shooting a team-best 41.0 percent from three-point range. He hasn't been a prolific scorer (5.6 points and 5.6 shot attempts per game), but it's been difficult to measure some of his impact in numbers.
“That hurts,” Holiday said of Cunningham being unavailable short-term. “We're for sure going to have to step up defensively. As you know, you can put Dante on anybody and he's going to get stops. (He brings) corner shooting, all the way out to threes. He's really good at that. And then toughness.
“Obviously he's very tenacious on defense, very intense. That's kind of what we adopted, that we had to be tougher on defense. The last couple games, we just had to be physical. If you know Dante, he's a physical person. Everybody else just has to keep that going.”
Other notes from shootaround at Moda Center:
In November 2015, the Pelicans were on the road in Phoenix at Thanksgiving, allowing Alvin Gentry to host the entire traveling contingent at his home in Arizona. This time, the schedule beneficiary was Terrence Jones, a Portland native. The forward hosted a Thanksgiving gathering after the team landed in Oregon on Thursday evening.
“I love the organization and everybody on my team is like my brother, so they definitely were always more than welcome,” Jones said of spending part of Turkey Day with his teammates. “Everybody got a good Thanksgiving meal. It's just a day to give thanks for God and everything we have in our lives to be happy and thankful for.” …
Jones on why it may be difficult for visiting teams to win in Portland (the Pelicans have an active 10-game road losing streak at Moda Center): “It's definitely a big fan base in Portland. It's definitely a crowd that's going to get into (the game). It's hard to get a W here.”
