Anthony Davis has said recently that New Orleans players know they’re a better team than what their won-loss record indicates. While at first glance that may seem like a hollow cliche, the Pelicans again demonstrated Friday how dangerous they can be when they play closer to their potential and get multiple quality performances beyond what Davis (24.2 ppg, 10.9 rpg, 2.6 bpg) regularly produces.
For the second time in two weeks Friday, New Orleans (5-15) knocked off one of the NBA’s premier teams, beating Cleveland 114-108 in overtime. Exactly two weeks earlier – also on ESPN, also in front of a packed house in the Smoothie King Center – the Pelicans topped San Antonio 104-90, their second-biggest margin of victory in 2015-16.
“It just shows that when we play like we’re supposed to, we can beat anybody,” said Davis, who registered 31 points and 12 rebounds vs. the Cavs, after going for 20 and 18 against the Spurs. “We’ve proven ourselves against (Cleveland) and proven ourselves against the Spurs. We’ve just got to do it against teams that are not the Spurs and not Cleveland. We can’t play down to the level of the competition. We’ve got to make sure we’re playing at this high level every game, no matter who our opponent is.”
“I don’t know if it’s the TV games or what,” said point guard Jrue Holiday, wondering aloud about NOLA’s two best wins coming on ESPN’s airwaves. “We play well in TV games. I feel like when the competition comes, we definitely step up. Now it’s about being consistent with our level of (play) and whoever comes in here, we’ve got to play the same way.”
Now comes the hard part – carrying over the momentum and good feelings from Friday’s thrilling victory into home games this week vs. Boston and Washington, followed immediately by a challenging five-game road trip to Chicago, Portland, Utah, Phoenix and Denver. Only one of those seven games is scheduled for national TV (a Dec. 18 late-night tip on ESPN against the Suns).
Pelicans Coach Alvin Gentry said after Saturday’s practice that his team must improve its performance against teams with losing records, particularly in Louisiana.
“The thing that’s most disturbing to me right now is we’re 0-5 against sub-.500 teams,” Gentry said. “Those are the games that you have to take care of, especially at home. The fact that we’re 0-5 is bothersome. We can’t have a win against Cleveland, San Antonio, Dallas, but not be able to beat some of the teams that are struggling right now on our homecourt.
“It can’t be that we get focused for a Cleveland team that was in the NBA Finals, but we can’t get focused for another team that didn’t make the playoffs last year. That’s a maturity thing and a focus thing.”
New Orleans showed grit Friday by bouncing back from a rapid fourth-quarter turnaround to eventually defeat Cleveland (13-6) in OT. The Pelicans led by double digits midway through the fourth period, but the Cavaliers and LeBron James (37 points, 23 in fourth quarter) stormed back to take a three-point lead in the final minute. Holiday sank the most important shot of the young season for the Pelicans with eight seconds left, shaking off Matthew Dellavedova and draining a game-tying trey.
“I’m happiest that we let a double-figure lead slip away – and those are usually the kind of (situations) that are hard to recover from – but we did a great job (closing the game),” Gentry said.
“We never once thought in our heads that we were going to lose this game,” Davis said in front of his locker, as it approached midnight. “We kept fighting.”
The result was a much-needed win, ending a four-game losing streak for the Pelicans, who are trying to remain within striking distance of eighth place in the Western Conference, which has been surprisingly mediocre through the first month-plus of the regular season. Although there were plenty of smiles in the Pelicans’ locker room after the win over the defending East champions, Gentry indicated that his team would’ve been pleased to notch a ‘W’ regardless of the circumstances.
“We needed a win from anybody. If we played my alma mater, we needed a win,” said Gentry, a proud Appalachian State graduate. “We’ve just got to try to find a way to come up with some wins. To get a quality one like that is good, but for us, it’s important to build on this and not take a step backwards. We have to start playing with some consistency from here on.”
