Pelicans 10-game streak ends with one-sided loss to Wizards

With a big crowd on hand, it was an exciting night at Smoothie King Center Friday night. The New Orleans Pelicans were back home, riding a franchise record-tying 10 game win streak.

The streak was bound to end, at some point.

With a good Washington Wizards team in town and with no Anthony Davis, the streak came to a halt. Make that crashed and burned.

The Wizards led throughout, pulling away in the second and third quarters in a convincing 116-97 victory over the Pelicans. New Orleans did not make a 3-pointer in the first half and it spelled doom.

The Pelicans looked tired, a step slow, and we got a glimpse of just how good Davis is in his absence.

He changes everything with his presence.

Without Davis, New Orleans needed big games from Jrue Holiday and Niko Mirotic, both of whom have been outstanding in the win streak.

Neither were able to deliver on this night.

Holiday scored just four points in 28 minutes, taking just nine shots. Mirotic scored just nine points in 27 minutes and was 0-for-4 from 3-point range. New Orleans got beat 49-38 on the boards and committed 15 turnovers.

Utah comes calling Sunday night.

Davis remains day-to-day with his sprained left ankle.

While every game is important, it is important that the Pelicans resist the urge to rush Davis back. If he misses another game or even two, that is preferable to playing him at far less than 100 percent.

In fact, the rest could serve him well down the stretch of a season in which he has logged heavy minutes.

Despite the loss, the Pelicans remain fourth in the tightly bunched Western Conference race. New Orleans is a mediocre 17-13 at home, simply not a good enough pace to be a home team in the opening round of the playoffs. Once again, that must improve. The odds of that being the case are not very good without Davis and, of course, without DeMarcus Cousins.

The streak is over. The Pelicans will no longer be a top featured team or game on the nightly national highlight shows. It was fun while it lasted. Now, it is time to go about the business of rebounding in more ways than one.