Pelicans rally past Knicks late, 129-125

NEW ORLEANS – Stop me if you’ve heard this one before…

The New Orleans Pelicans played down to the level of their competition, requiring incredible performances from Anthony Davis, Jrue Holiday, and Julius Randle in order to come back to win.

The names after Anthony Davis may change depending on the opponent and the season, but the story has too often be the same.

The latest chapter was written in the Smoothie King Center Friday night, as the Pelicans needed a 41-28 fourth quarter to overcome a 19-point first half deficit to defeat the New York Knicks 129-124.

Down 10 at the start of the fourth, New Orleans trailed by 11 with 6:53 remaining. Then suddenly, the Pelicans came to life on both ends of the floor.

First Darius Miller hit his only shot of the game, a three-pointer that cut the lead to eight. Miller then assisted Anthony Davis for a dunk to get New Orleans within six. On the next possession Holiday stripped Tim Hardaway Jr. and passed it to Julius Randle for a thunderous jam. A Randle steal led to a Holiday layup to complete an 8-0 run, making the score 112-114 with just over five minutes to play.

Jrue Holiday puts on the clamps and leads to the Julius Randle slam. pic.twitter.com/lmIHhskhwl

— Scott Charlton (@Scott_Charlton) November 17, 2018

After the Knicks pushed the lead back to six, the Pelicans closed the game with a 17-10 run, taking their first lead of the game at 120-119 with 2:33 left on a Randle free throw. Randle and Davis dominated the paint and the boards combining for 16 points and 13 rebounds in the period.

Most life we've seen out of the Pelicans yet — Anthony Davis and Julius Randle battling hard for the offensive board.

— Oleh Kosel (@OlehKosel) November 17, 2018

Defensively, the Pelicans kept the Knicks from making a single three-pointer over the last 12 minutes after New York made 11 in the first 36.

Davis finished with a season-high 43 points to go along with 17 rebounds and five assists. Holiday added 24 points (14 in the fourth quarter) and 10 assists, and Randle came off the bench to pick up his fifth double-double of the season with 19 points and 11 boards.

Tim Hardaway Jr. led New York with 30 points and eight rebounds. Trey Burke added 24 off the bench and Emmanuel Mudiay scored a season-high 19.

As the clock finally wound down and the Smoothie King Center crowd cheered the victory, I couldn’t help but feel some sense of emptiness.

While the Pelicans’ 8-7 start hasn’t been great, the way they’ve earned that record is a bigger problem.

What doesn’t show up in the final box score is the poor effort the Pelicans gave for more than three quarters of the game and in a number of games thus far.

I don’t want the Pelicans to lose, but it feels kinda wrong that they are probably going to get rewarded for playing hard, intelligent basketball for less than a quarter.

— David M. Grubb (@DMGrubb) November 17, 2018

Mirroring their performance against the Minnesota Timberwolves, New Orleans was very slow getting out of the blocks.

The Pelicans missed five of their first six shot attempts to start the game. They turned the ball over seven times on offense with lazy passes, and they were indifferent defensively, allowing the Knicks to score 12 points in the paint with ease and destroying the Pels on the boards 17-10 (five offensive).

The Knicks doubled up the Pelicans 32-16 after one quarter. Davis was a complete non-factor with two points (1-3 shooting) and two turnovers, something he admitted to FoxSports New Orleans’ Jen Hale after the game and reiterated during the post game presser.

After a season-high 43 points @AntDavis23 takes responsibility for the @PelicansNBA's slow start.#doitBIG pic.twitter.com/AtMRZhpJgf

— FOXSports NewOrleans (@FOXSportsNOLA) November 17, 2018

“We haven’t been coming out great defensively,” Davis said. “Offensively, we have been bad. It is tough to always play uphill and to have a perfect game. You know we want to beat the great teams, but if we get down like that, they are not going to let us come back.”

“We had about two or three three-pointers that went in and out, but you know, we can’t worry about offense. We have to do it on the defensive end. They were too comfortable. Any team that gets comfortable, no matter who they are, are going to be able to score the basketball and play with a lot of confidence, so we gotta make sure that we do a better job coming out, especially on the defensive end.”

Not only did the Pelicans lose the opening quarter, they lost Elfrid Payton with a broken left little finger. Payton had just returned from a nine-game absence with a sprained ankle.

“It’s a fractured finger,” said Head Coach Alvin Gentry after the game. “We don’t know anything, I mean it’s just going to be a day-to-day thing. Obviously, we’ll find out a lot more tomorrow, but it’s unfortunate for him because he’s worked so hard to get himself back and ready too and then for that to happen, I feel bad for him because he was so looking forward to playing and we really need him. He’s an integral part of what we’re trying to do.”

With Payton sidelined, the Pelicans have averaged 19 turnovers per game. During their four-game winning streak to start the season, the Pels averaged 12.

Niko Mirotić also continues to show the effects of his own ankle injury. Though he also had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds, his long shooting slump continued. Mirotić was 4-for-11 from the field, and just 2-of-8 from distance.

Over his last eight games Niko is shooting 23.7 percent on three pointers, and 43.7 percent overall.

The bench was better than it was in Minnesota, contributing 37 points and 20 rebounds. However, the reserves shot just 42 percent. Taking Randle out of the equation drops that figure to 28.5 percent (6-21, 3-12 on 3PA).

Cheick Diallo, who had given quality minutes as of late, didn’t play and Frank Jackson made his first appearance played more than two minutes for the first time since November 1.

The need for an additional ball handler continues to be a glaring one.

In the meantime, the Pelicans must correct their defensive issues. The 124 points scored by the Knicks was their second highest output of the season, and the fifth time this season the Pels have allowed 120 points or more. They are 2-3 in those games.

New Orleans also gave up 54 points in the paint to a team that ranks 19th in the league in that department. Lastly, the Pelicans’ had a defensive rating of 112.7, worse than their season rating of 111.4.

The answers to slow starts and poor defense have been the same going on three years now.

“We just got to make teams more uncomfortable when they are on the offensive end on defense,” said Randle. “It’s just a little too free-flowing and we got to come with better energy too.”

Why don’t the Pelicans have energy to start games? Why has Anthony Davis been playing the least effective defense of his career? Why haven’t the Pelicans tried to address the thin bench, which outside of Randle and Jackson, is basically the same as it was a year ago?

This is the most talented Pelicans team of the Anthony Davis era, but something is off. It’s not Payton’s injury, or Davis’ elbow, or a lack of help for AD.

The Pelicans’ problems reside either between the ears or in the center of their chests. Whatever button that needs to pushed to activate this team on a nightly basis seems to be encased in glass.

Last season, New Orleans was fortunate enough to find it and close with a 20-8 record to earn a playoff berth on the next to last day of the season.

This year, in a stronger and deeper Western Conference that has 13 teams within 3.5 games of the second seed as of last night, the Pelicans cannot wait that long to live up to their potential.

Saturday night against the Denver Nuggets, the Pels have another opportunity to face one of the top teams in the league. Hopefully, they start this game the way the finished the last.