Jrue Holiday’s dominant performance lifts Pelicans to 2-0 series lead over Blazers

  • April 18, 2018
  • By David Grubb
  • Category: Pelicans
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Playoff Rondo may need to make room for Playoff Jrue. Jrue Holiday

Jrue Holiday scored a career playoff-high 33 points to go along with 9 assists and his usual stellar defense to lead the New Orleans Pelicans to a 111-102 win over the Portland Trail Blazers to take a 2-0 lead in their first round matchup.

“I thought he was really, really good; but he’s been really, really good the whole season, so this is not like a surprise or anything,” said Pelicans Head Coach Alvin Gentry. “In my opinion, and I may be a little bit biased, but if you can tell me a better two-way player in the league right now I’m willing to listen.”

Tonight wasn’t the night to have that conversation considering Holiday’s impact. No player, including Davis, stood out more than the Pelicans’ guard.

Holiday seized control of the game from the outset. He scored 12 points in the first 12 minutes, primarily by attacking the rim. He punctuated the quarter with a left-handed dunk on a feed from Anthony Davis.

He scored 12 more in the fourth; at the line, behind the arc, and in the paint. Jrue was everywhere.

Davis added 22 points and 13 rebounds while Rajon Rondo flirted with a triple-double, posting 16 points, 10 boards, and nine assists. For AD, it was the first game of his playoff career where he failed to score at least 25 points.

Nikola Mirotić added 17 points and eight boards, including a huge three-pointer that nearly scraped the Moon and gave the Pelicans a 102-100 lead with 3:03 to play. They would not trail again.

Rondo was instrumental in getting the Pelicans baskets near the goal. The Pels scored 50 points in the paint, the second-most in the team’s postseason history.

After Portland dominated inside in the first half, particularly on the glass, New Orleans held the Blazers to three offensive boards in the second.

CJ McCollum led Portland with 22 points and Damian Lillard had 17, but the duo combined to shoot just 16-39 from the floor (4-15 on three-pointers).

New Orleans has won three straight at the Moda Center and leads a playoff series 2-0 for just the third time in franchise history, the previous two coming when the then-Hornets advanced to the Western Conference Semifinals. But the Hornets had home court advantage in both of those series.

The Pelicans were also 1-5 in first round Game Twos and facing a Portland team that had beaten them seven out of nine in the Moda Center.

Now, they’re the only team in the postseason thus far to take go on the road and come away victorious not just once, but twice.

“We’re not celebrating anything,” Gentry added. “We’ve got two wins. We have to come up with to more. That was our message to the team, and actually that was their message to each other. We haven’t done anything yet.”

Adopting the motto “Do it Bigger” for the playoffs, now it’s on the fans of New Orleans to do the same. With an opportunity to take a 3-0 lead on Thursday and force an elimination game on Saturday at the Smoothie King Center, the Pelicans will need a true home court advantage.

The Pelicans were 24-17 at home during the regular season, with a number of frustrating losses, including a 107-103 defeat at the hands of these same Blazers on March 27.

But that was then. Now, the Pelicans have won seven games in a row (six of eight at home) and are playing like a team that expects to win.

In the jumbled West, where beyond Golden State and Houston there are no juggernauts, why shouldn’t they? The Pelicans have as good a chance as any to advance to the second round.

Complacency won’t be an issue, but there is still room for improvement. The Pelicans have to rebound better and they still give the ball away too often. The bench has also continued to provide little support to the starters.

Still, here they are. Without DeMarcus Cousins and without homecourt entering the postseason, the Pelicans are flying high. Who would’ve thunk it?

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David Grubb

Sports 1280am host/CCS reporter

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David Grubb has more than a decade of experience in the sports industry. He began his career with KLAX-TV in Alexandria, La. and followed that up with a stint as an reporter and anchor with WGGB-TV in Springfield, Mass. After spending a few years away from the industry, David worked as sports information director for Southern University at New Orleans…

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