Pelicans find form in second half to crush injury-depleted Celtics

In the midst of a 10-game win streak, the New Orleans Pelicans played fast, up-tempo basketball with good spacing and tremendous ball movement.

In recent games, those aspects of their game have dissipated, even disappeared. So, too, did wins as New Orleans lost four of five games.

After scoring 47 points in the first half Sunday, trailing 49-47 and struggling with a Boston team missing three of its best players, the Pelicans found their form in the second half, scoring 61 points, sharing the ball and getting contributions all around in a convincing 108-89 victory over the Celtics.

After shooting 46.3 percent in the first half, the Pelicans shot 53.7 percent in the second half. The shot selection and pace were significantly better.

Equally as important was the fact that the Pelicans held Boston to just 40 points in the half and held the Celtics to just 40 percent shooting in the game.

In the four most recent losses, New Orleans was held to 97, 99, 93 and 101 points, playing slower, struggling to score and not accumulating as many assists as they were averaging during the win streak.

Anthony Davis was his usual self, pumping in 34 points, going 14-for-24 from the field. He added 11 rebounds and three assists. The only advice for Davis is to quit settling for and shooting 3-pointers. He is 0-for-10 from beyond the arc in his last four games and is just one for his last 14.

It was a game that the Pelicans had to win.

The Celtics were without Kyrie Irving, Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown and Daniel Theis.

Prior to the game, it was announced that Alvin Gentry was fined $15,000 for his outburst following the 107-101 loss to Houston Saturday night. For what it is worth, Gentry incurred another technical foul Sunday and it seemed to turn the game definitely toward the Pelicans.

Abdel Nader was fouled shooting a 3-pointer by Ian Clark, Gentry voiced his displeasure and got the “T.”

Nader proceeded to miss the technical free throw and then missed all three free throws from the foul as the Celtics, down 82-76 in the fourth quarter, failed to take advantage of a great opportunity. They would never recover as the Pelicans responded with a 10-3 run to put the game away.

The bench came up huge for the Pelicans as Nikola Mirotic had 16 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocked shots. Ian Clark had eight points.

Perhaps the biggest contribution came from Cheick Diallo. When the young man gets minutes, he produces. It has been virtually that simple. Ultimately, he has to win Gentry’s confidence to put him on the floor every night, as opposed to the 31 DNP’s has on his resume this season.

Diallo had 17 points and pulled down six rebounds in just 24 minutes against the Celtics. New Orleans dominated in the paint, outscoring the Celtics 54-36.

The other positive was the return to action of Solomon Hill, who played in his first game after missing the first 70 games of the season with a torn hamstring. Hill was not a factor, playing eight minutes and picking up an assist but it is important to try to get him back in the fold during the run to the playoffs.

The win pushed New Orleans into a three-way tie for fifth in the Western Conference with San Antonio and red hot Utah.

Now comes the gauntlet.

The Pelicans must play three games in three nights, beginning Tuesday with Dallas. Fortunately, all three games are at Smoothie King Center. The Pacers and improved Lakers follow the Mavericks to town.

The good news is that Davis played just 33 minutes while Jrue Holiday played only 28 minutes against the Celtics.

After the Lakers game, the Pelicans must face, in succession, Houston, Portland, Cleveland and Oklahoma City. That includes three of the hottest teams in the league and the other, the Cavaliers, remain a top-shelf team.

There is a two-game stretch against Memphis and Phoenix. New Orleans must sweep those two games before closing with another very tough stretch at Golden State, at Los Angeles against the Clippers and at home against the Spurs.

At 40-30, it will take at least a split of the final 12 games to make the playoffs, perhaps even more. To get to the sixth spot and to avoid Houston and Golden State in the first round, it will likely take as many as eight wins. To get to the three or four spot and to have home court advantage in the opening round, it will likely require nine or 10 wins.

It will not be easy.

The schedule is difficult.

If the Pelicans can bottle what they brought to the floor in the second half Sunday, they will have a good chance to make the playoffs and a decent chance to get to the sixth spot or better in the postseason.