Pelicans Comeback from 23 Point Deficit to Beat the Cavaliers
New Orleans Pelicans 108 - Cleveland Cavaliers 104
New Orleans entered the contest with a previous four game winning streak that was ended by the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday night. In that game, Brandon Ingram left early in the first half with an Achilles injury and remained out for tonight’s matchup as well - figure the medical staff will approach the injury very cautiously as an Achilles injury can be pretty serious. Josh Hart also missed last nights game against the Cavs with an ankle injury. Also, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Naji Marshall remain out in the health and safety protocols, but no other Pelican has entered the protocols since their announcement which hopefully stays that way. Jonas Valanciunas returns to the lineup after missing two games with his non-Covid illness. For the Cavaliers, six players missed tonight’s game from Covid: Jarrett Allen, Lamar Stevens, Dylan Windler, Ed Davis, Cedi Osman, and Darius Garland. During the game, Ricky Rubio did go down with what looked to be a non-contact knee injury late in the fourth quarter. Brutal injury for not only Cleveland, but especially Rubio who was playing some of the best basketball of his career this year. Earlier in the season, the Cavaliers lost one of their young guards, Colin Sexton, for the entire season with a meniscus tear in his left knee. Sexton was in contract extension negotiations during the off-season as his rookie contract is about to expire, but he and the organization could not agree on the value. Sexton has shown to be a good scoring guard, but how much does he bring to the table besides that, not too much more in all honesty. Hopefully the injury doesn’t persuade Cleveland or other organizations from offering him too much less money, as a meniscus injury is not as serious as an ACL or Achilles tear. This scenario is why most agents like to get the rookie extensions done as soon as possible because you never know what can happen. The Cavaliers have been a darling team so far this NBA season surprising everyone with their overall team success. Jarrett Allen and rookie Evan Mobley have willed Cleveland into a top 5 defensive team in the NBA when the team was previously a bottom 5 defensive squad. Darius Garland has blossomed into a lead point guard and is extremely fun to watch, disappointed he had to miss last night’s game. And the previous Cavalier vets like Kevin Love and Cedi Osman have played great this season as well. This perfect storm has Cleveland in fifth place in the east currently, and I do not see that many teams that could leap-frog them in the standings. Anyways, let’s get into the game.
With the recent injuries and health and safety protocols, Willie Green put out the lineup of Garrett Temple, Herb Jones, Devonte Graham, Jonas Valanciunas, and Gary Clark who was picked up after Didi Louzada’s suspension. I would think Pelicans fans would have to be disappointed to not see their first round pick, Trey Murphy, get that starting spot. Maybe Trey just doesn’t work hard enough in practice or Willie just thinks Clark is better than Trey right now, unsure. On one of the Pelicans first possessions of the game, Graham got a turnover as he tried a bounce pass to Jonas, but Jonas stopped rolling towards the rim. Seemed like Jonas still had to get back into game speed during the first stretch. Graham later got a poke on the defensive end to force a late shot clock chuck at the rim, but Ricky Rubio got the offensive rebound and putback for a score anyway. Graham did go down early in the first quarter holding his knee, but he just bumped knees with Isaac Okoro and would return soon after. With Evan Mobley, Lauri Markkanen, and Dean Wade starting, the Pelicans were shooting a lot of jumpers as they could not figure out a way to get into the paint early on. New Orleans was doing a lot of dribble handoffs around the perimeter with JV but could not penetrate the defense that way either. The first basket came from a Satoransky-JV pick and roll as Sato had another game where he was pretty aggressive offensively as he finished with 3 points and 5 assists as he was able to penetrate the defense and create for others. The broadcast showed that when the Pelicans were down 12 to 2, Cleveland had taken 12 shots and New Orleans had only 4 which just showed the Pelicans were giving up offensive rebounds and turning the ball over early on. Graham checked back into the first quarter with 6 minutes left along with Willy Hernangomez. However, Willy did airball his first post hook and only played 6 minutes. Then, Herb Jones began to take over on the offensive end. He scored the Pelicans next 8 points after the first basket of the game. He had two good cuts for layups and also hit a floater in the paint after he blocked Rubio’s layup on the previous defensive possession. Cleveland built up their lead with mostly great shooting as they finished the first quarter shooting 9 for 12 from 3-point range on pretty good looks, too. Evan Mobley was scoring however he wanted to against Willy in the first quarter. He made a post hook over Hernangomez, and on the next possession, he makes a trailing 3-pointer as Willy was sagging more towards the paint. Then on the next possession, Mobley made a post fade scoring 7 straight points on 3 straight possessions - showing why he is most people’s favorites to win Rookie of the Year. Herb was able to get Mobley in the air on a pump fake for some free throws, and once Graham returned back to the lineup, New Orleans was actually able to penetrate the Cavalier defense as Graham was aggressively going downhill while using the pick and roll. Herb was doing the same, but Herb was actually creating shots for others which is something we have not really seen from him as he normally plays off-ball. He sucked the defense in and hit Trey Murphy for an open corner 3 towards the end of the quarter. At the end of the first quarter, Cleveland led 39 to 20.
Jaxson Hayes started the second quarter and scored on the first possession as he hit a eurostep in the paint after running a pick and roll. He ran the floor hard on another possession for a big fastbreak dunk, and even blocked a Rubio runner in a iso. On another offensive possession, Hayes cut in from the break which sucked in Kevin Love who was guarding Gary Clark in the weakside corner. Clark caught the pass, pump faked Kevin Love as he was closing out and hit the corner 3. Willie Green even played Hayes with Valanciunas to combat the size Cleveland had on the floor and it worked decently well. The full lineup was JV, Hayes, Temple, Sato, and Herb Jones. It also helped that Satoransky was aggressive on offensive because he kind of had to be. The Pelicans tried to post up JV in this lineup, but no one on Cleveland respected Jaxson’s shooting to guard him so they just doubled JV and forced a turnover. Graham pushing the pace was great all game long. One possession, he pushes the fastbreak all the way to the rim, kicks out to Herb at the 3-point line, who then passes it back into the post to JV for a score, repaying the big man for running the floor. This play cut the lead down to only 5. Mobley stopped the Pelicans run by contesting Herb’s layup at the rim without fouling and then hitting an and-one post fade on Valanciunas on the next possession. Herb almost got the rookie back as he blew past him to get to the rim, pump faked him in the air but just missed the layup. The main theme on the defensive end in the first half was the Pelicans overall miscommunication on pick and rolls but mostly pick and pops. New Orleans was down 58 to 48 at halftime as Cleveland went 0 for 10 on 3-pointers in the second quarter compared to their awesome first.
On one of the first offensive possessions in the third quarter, Gary Clark missed a decent 3-point look from the corner, but JV had Rubio on him as the Cavs defense just settled after the fastbreak. The Pels had a nice set where Graham screened Markkanen near the paint as JV curled towards the rim, but both guys doubled JV on the catch so he hit Graham for a wide open corner 3-pointer. Clark hit another 3 after Mobley sinks down and overhelps on the pick and roll. Gary Clark played pretty well overall finishing with 12 points while going 4 for 10 from 3-point range. Trey Murphy intercepted a bad pass from Kevin Love who was trying to give it to Mobley in the post, but Trey kept fighting for position as he was trying to front Mobley. Rubio had Herb in an iso, and Jones basically forced a shot clock violation as Rubio could never get a good look. Devonte Graham continued to attack the paint in the pick and roll as he was much better operating it in this game compared to the last post I had on the Magic game. Jared Harper got about 8 minutes of playing time, and he was pretty effective. He had 7 points and 3 assists on 3 for 6 shooting and made one of his two 3-pointers. Harper forced a loose ball and then immediately switched to Sato’s man after Sato gambled for the loose ball since he had the better angle. Harper drove to the rim, missed the layup, but grabbed the rebound somehow, he is listed as 5’10, and hit a 3 on that same possession. Satoransky had a great stunt on Kevin Love that gave Harper enough time to recover back to Love and contest the 3-pointer. Harper also hit the last shot of the third quarter as the Cavaliers had a miscommunication on the pick and roll, and Harper shot a floater before Mobley could rotate over and contest the shot. Harper was just an energy boost off the bench and was playing hard. The Pelicans only trailed 83 to 76 at the end of the third quarter.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Lauri Markkanen got two consecutive buckets on Sato and Clark after both were switched on to him, but he would miss his next post up attempt on Jaxson Hayes. Harper poked the ball free on a Ricky Rubio drive that saved a defensive possession. Garrett Temple beat Markkanen for a layup and then hit a 3-pointer on the next possession, but Markkanen scored again in the post as he got another mismatch from the Pelicans swithching. With about 8 minutes left in the game, Willie Green used the Hayes-Valanciunas twin towers group again. New Orleans had another miscommunication on a pick and pop but Markannen missed the jumper. Herb threw a skip pass to Hayes who then swung it to Temple in the corner for a 3 as the Cavaliers had bad threat assessment on that rotation. Temple and Hayes had a great defensive possession as Hayes guarded Rubio in an iso and Temple had Markannen. Herb Jones had a great defensive rotation as he dropped down from his man at the break on the weak side to meet Isaac Okoro at the rim and block his shot. One of my notes at this point during the fourth was that Herb and Temple were taking over the quarter. Herb Jones finished with a career high 26 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 blocks while shooting 10 for 18 from the field and 2 for 4 on 3-pointers. Garrett Temple ended the game with 17 points on 6 for 7 shooting and 5 for 6 from 3-point range. The Pelicans had another miscommunication on a pick and pop between Temple and Hayes, but Rubio missed the 3-pointer. Devonte Graham hit another big 3, which seems like he usually does once a game, in transition as no one on the Cavalier defense picked him up as JV and Hayes were rim running. Always need someone to pick up the ball, you can only score if you have the ball in your hands. But this play just showed the team’s effort for the night and what Jaxson needs to do to keep getting minutes. Hayes was good tonight: played almost 20 more minutes that Willy and ended the night with 7 points and 8 rebounds but with a team high +22. It did seem like there was some shooting luck when he was on the floor, even during his minutes with JV, but his effort was there. During the final stretch of the game, Kevin Love hit a deep 3 as Hayes was just not expecting him to shoot it after the catch. Herb threw a nice pass over the Cavaliers defense to Valanciunas as Okoro was fronting him in the post that lead to free throws. On the last big defensive possession, the Pelicans were up by 3 and Jaxson sank down and overhelped on Denzel Valentine as he acted like he was going to drive, giving Mobley a pretty decent 3-point attempt to tie, but he missed it. Devonte Graham made the same mistake as Hayes, overhelping from his guy when only a 3-pointer hurts you, but Hayes and Mobley were standing right next to Valentine so it was easy to see that Mobley was open. But this was a great win by the Pelicans. They continue to fight and not give up when they get down no matter who is playing. Definitely one of my favorite games I’ve watched from them this season.
The Pelicans will have a nice break as their next game is not until New Year’s Day, Saturday, in a rematch against the Milwaukee Bucks who will be much closer to full strength compared to the previous matchup.