NEW ORLEANS Pelicans Julius Randle #30 of the New Orleans Pelicans (Photo by Layne Murdoch Jr./NBAE via Getty Images)
The New Orleans Pelicans continued their dominance at home by defeating the San Antonio Spurs 140-126 on Monday night. They improved to 8-1 at home this season.
We wrote earlier about the New Orleans Pelicans trying to create a home court advantage. If they continue to win like this at home, then that shouldn’t be an issue.
Key stat of the game…
78. The Pelicans were completely dominate inside the paint on their way to a season high in points in the paint. Led by Anthony Davis and Julius Randle, the Pelicans were able to bully the undersized Spurs all night long down low.
The Spurs were without their 7 foot center Pau Gasol and it showed. The Pelicans constantly threw it down low to their bigs and it seemed like each time they were successful.
When the bigs weren’t scoring, Pelicans guards Jrue Holiday and E’Twaun Moore were slashing to the bucket for easy scores. Simply put, the Pelicans got what they wanted when they wanted.
It was over when…
The Pelicans exploded in the third quarter scoring 40 points and extending their single digit lead at halftime to double-digits to start the fourth. Nikola Mirotic got the party started by hitting a couple of threes and the Pels were off and running from there.
The ball movement was beautiful as the Pelicans tallied 34 assists on the night. What was most impressive about this was it was the Pelicans big doing a lot of the damage with assists. When the team passes the ball like this then they are a difficult team to beat.
Player of the game…
Julius Randle recorded his first triple double of the season tallying 21 points, 14 rebounds, and 10 assists in only 25 minutes of play. Randle was decisive in his decision-making not only scoring, but setting his teammates up.
Randle is poised to be in the conversation for sixth man of the year and night’s like this go a long way to make his case. What’s more, it takes pressure of AD to always have to have his A game every night. Randle has definitely proved his worth early in this NBA season.
The Pelicans play three of their next four games on the road where it has been a house of horrors for them. They have only won two games on the road this season. They must turn that around if they expect to keep pace in the crowded Western Conference race.