Inside the numbers of Pelicans-Blazers before Game 2

Back at practice #DoItBigger pic.twitter.com/YwEUOdIsSQ

— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) April 15, 2018

As the New Orleans Pelicans get ready to play with house money Tuesday night in Game 2 at Moda Center against the Blazers, the pressure to get a road win is off. Now, they embark on the difficult task of trying to sweep a desperate, motivated, talented Portland squad on its home court for a second consecutive night.

How big would it be for the Pelicans to win Tuesday night?

Consider this fact.

Since the NBA went to a best-of-seven opening round from its previous best-of-five format, teams going up 2-0 in those first-round series have won 94 percent of those series competitions. As you might imagine, teams taking a 3-0 lead are perfect, having never lost.

With that as a backdrop, let’s take a look inside the numbers going into game two of the Pelicans vs. Blazers series.

**No longer is the streak something that people can refer to. The New Orleans NBA franchise had not won a playoff game since 2011. That is over.

**No longer can anyone say that Anthony Davis is a superstar without a playoff win. He saw to that, with a little help from his friends, last Saturday night.

**New Orleans was one of only two road teams (Indiana the other) to win game one of their respective playoff series.

**New Orleans won for just the fourth time this season when scoring under 100 points this past Saturday. The Pelicans are 4-12 in such games.

**The Pelicans held Portland to 37.8 percent shooting from the field in game one.

**New Orleans is 12-2 when holding opponents to under 40 percent shooting from the field. One of those losses was a 103-93 loss at Portland on Oct. 24, 2017 when the Blazers shot just 37.5 percent.

**The Pelicans are 8-0 when Anthony Davis scored 40 or more points.

**New Orleans is 8-1 when Nikola Mirotic scores 20 or more points.

**Rajon Rondo has now won three consecutive road playoff games against higher seeds as a player.

**New Orleans is 6-0 when Rondo has 15 or more assists. The Pelicans are 17-5 when Rondo has 10 or more assists.

**The win over Portland marked the fourth time that New Orleans has won a playoff series opener and is the second time they have done so on the road. The Pelicans beat the Lakers 109-100 on April 17, 2011 at Staples Center in the series opener but went on to lose the series in six games.

**19,882—the number of people attending game one in the sellout crowd at Moda Center. Look for the same for game two Tuesday night.

**Zero and 19—the number of points by CJ McCollum in the first and second halves, respectively, against the Pelicans. It was the second time this season that McCollum did not score in the first half of a contest.

**New Orleans is 30-20 this season in games defined as down-the-wire games, a sure sign of a maturing team that does not melt under the bright lights of pressure. More importantly, they are accustomed to playing in tight games, a real plus in the playoffs.

**There were only 22 free throw attempts combined in game one. Get used to it. This is the playoffs. Whistles largely go silent.

**54.9 percent—the percentage of quality shots Portland coach Terry Stotts said his team got in game one. That is the bad news for New Orleans. The good news is that the Blazers are under 30 percent from 3-point range over their last 13 games.

**The loss for the Blazers was only the second all season long at Moda Center when holding an opponent to under 97 points. It was Portland that won in transition with 29 fast-break points. New Orleans, which is the third highest scoring team in the NBA, needs to speed up the pace.

**The 36 points in the first half were the second lowest of the season for the Blazers.

**Five—the number of Pelicans who were on the right side of the plus-minus equation in game one. Mirotic was best at plus-minus 13 while Jrue Holiday, the game’s hero and a superb two-way player, was plus-minus 12. E’Twaun Moore was plus-minus 10 and Davis was plus-minus one. Darius Miller was neutral (zero).

Trends are always an interesting study. Numbers can be twisted to one’s advantage. Ultimately, primary numbers to watch for Tuesday night if the Pelicans are to win again include:

**New Orleans scoring 100 more points
**New Orleans getting 25 or more fast-break points
**New Orleans limiting Portland offensive rebounds to 10 or fewer
**New Orleans limiting turnovers to 10 or fewer
**New Orleans shooting 45 percent or better from the field
**New Orleans getting to the free throw line 20 or more times

It is always fun to play the numbers game.