Pelicans down short-handed Rockets behind improved defense

The New Orleans Pelicans had every advantage playing against the Houston Rockets on Sunday night. They were riding a three-game win streak and had been playing the best defense in the NBA over their previous five games.

Houston also entered the Smoothie King Center minus the services of James Harden, Russell Westbrook, and Clint Capela. That’s a combined 76.3 points, 15.8 assists, and 28.4 rebounds.

Rather than capitalize on their good fortune by putting their webbed feet on the necks of the Rockets early, the Pelicans found themselves trailing by seven entering the fourth quarter.

But instead of suffering another disappointing loss, the Pelicans found their defensive groove and got timely offense from the quartet of E’Twaun Moore, Jrue Holiday, Brandon Ingram, and a suddenly surging Lonzo Ball to outscore Houston 41-19 down the stretch and snatch a 127-112 victory from the jaws of defeat.

They became the first foursome in Pelicans history, and the first team in the NBA since 2006, to each score 25 points or more in the same game.

Ingram led the way with 27 points, with Holiday and Moore adding 25 each. Ball scored a season-high 27, to go along with eight assists and 10 rebounds, tallying his third double-double as a Pelican. He also made a career-high seven three pointers while playing 40 minutes.

They scored every one of the Pelicans’ points in the final frame.

First time in franchise history with four 25-point scorers in the same game & the first time in the NBA since 2006, per @ESPNStatsInfo @ZO2_ 27 pts, 10 reb, 8 ast, 2 stl, 7 3PM@B_Ingram13 27 pts, 6 reb, 4 ast@Jrue_Holiday11 25 pts, 5 ast, 4 3PM@ETwaun55 25 pts, 4 ast, 5 3PM pic.twitter.com/qESnI9YIVH

— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) December 30, 2019

Derrick Favors posted a double-double of his own with 12 points and 16 rebounds (six offensive). Over his last six games, he’s averaged just under a double-double, with 9.6 points and 13.1 boards each night.

The phrase “total team effort” can be overused, but it’s apt here. Josh Hart played 25 minutes without scoring a single basket, but had seven assists and four rebounds. Jaxson Hayes and Jahlil Okafor played a combined eight minutes, but made the most of their cameos with 11 points and five rebounds between them.

Once again though, as it has through these past six games, it was the Pelicans’ defense that proved to be the deciding factor.

First the Pelicans had to shut down the Rockets’ prolific three point attack. Houston torched New Orleans with eight three-pointers in the first quarter, and 12 in the first half. However, over the final 24 minutes, the Pelicans allowed the visitors only 11 attempts from beyond the arc, and just three makes.

It was no accident that the Rockets went cold. “That’s what they do is shoot threes,” said Moore. “They weren’t going to stop missing, we had to make them miss.”

New Orleans has been really good at that lately.

Pelicans have allowed fewest 3s per game in the league since December 18 (9.5, 27.8%)

Through December 17, Pelicans were 26th in NBA in 3s per game allowed (13.1, 37.7%) https://t.co/X3mSE31OPS

— Law Murray 🙏🏾 (@LawMurrayTheNU) December 30, 2019

The Pelicans’ fourth quarter total of 41 points nearly matched the Rockets’ production for the entire second half (48), as New Orleans was able to limit Houston to 19 field goal attempts down the stretch.

“The fourth quarter was big,” said Ball. “We knew we needed a strong push to get the win and we came into it down. Credit to our defense; we picked it up and the offense followed.”

Alvin Gentry discussed the changes that his staff has made lately to turn the Pelicans into one of the stingiest defensive teams in the NBA as of late. The return of the aforementioned Favors has been a very big factor, but strategically, the team adjusted by utilizing their frontcourt players differently and allowing them to hang back more rather than having their aggressiveness used against them.

The results are near impossible to argue against.

 
It hasn’t been a fluke either. The last six Pelicans’ opponents have a combined record of 100-96, with four of those appearing in the top eight of their respective conferences.

Suddenly, the Pelicans find themselves only 3.5 games out of the eighth spot in the Western Conference and with a schedule that is considerably more manageable than what they’ve faced thus far.

It has been a tumultuous 2019 for the New Orleans Pelicans, to say the least.

However, with Zion Williamson’s season debut feeling more imminent rather than doubtful, and a team that seems to be establishing a defensive identity and an offensive flow, the Pelicans’ prospects for 2020 seem much brighter than they did just a few days ago.

Pelicans fans should be excited to see what awaits in the new year.