The New Orleans Pelicans’ five-game winning streak ends with a 141-113 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Pelicans looked exactly what fans expected them to look like. What I mean by that is they looked like a team that was on the second night of a back-to-back and had played four games in five nights. Simply put, this group looked tired.
During the first half, the Pelicans put up a solid battle and stayed within 9 points at halftime. However, the lack of energy and attention to detail defensively, especially at the rim, made it easy for the Cavs to pull away. The Pelicans were outscored 41-31 in the third, giving up six threes.
If you remember, during Monday’s game against Dallas, the Pelicans couldn’t stay attached to Klay Thompson in the first half. He was 5/9 from three and had 20 points, and tonight it was the same story with Sam Merrill. The Cavs guard had 14 points and four threes after the first half, and they didn’t adjust.
New Orleans just really had no energy and gave up 27 second chance points. They also clearly missed the defensive skills of Herb Jones, who would have helped limit the Cavs’ three-point fire. Another man they missed was Jordan Poole, who was out with an ankle injury, as his shot creation and three-point shooting would have helped.
That said, in the modern NBA it is difficult to be a winning team without an elite three-point shooting staff, which is one of the Pels’ main weaknesses. You’re just not going to win games by shooting 26 threes, especially when you’re playing a team like Cleveland that is at the top of the league in threes per game. Being outshot at a distance of 49-26 is never a winning recipe.
The biggest bright spot in this match was a surprise
Despite losing this game, Derik Queen had an unreal second half, scoring 19 points in quarters three and four. He finished the game with 21 points, seven rebounds and five dimes.
But the big man I want to shine a light on is someone who got a DNP against Dallas the night before: Yves Missi. I recently wrote about how Missi’s spot in the Pelicans’ rotation may not exist in the future, such as with the emergence of Karlo Matkovic. But tonight, as the Pelicans were outscored on the boards, James Borrego called Missi’s number, and he responded.
He was immediately energetic and really helped New Orleans get back into this game in the second quarter. Missi came in and was active on the glass, had a and-aand terrorized teams in the two-man game with Jeremiah Fears. Three of Fears’ five assists came from Missi buckets.
While his box score doesn’t seem like anything crazy, he had a huge impact with seven points and two rebounds in 13 minutes. And what really impressed me was his willingness to play and contribute, even though his minutes have been inconsistent lately.
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