Takeaways From The Pelicans’ 0-2 Start
If you’ve been a Pelicans fan these last 48 hours, a lot of your optimism may have already faded.
You watched 22-year-old “superstar” Anthony Davis go 4-20 in the season opener, you saw an injured and depleted roster embarrass themselves in front of last season’s champs, and you saw NBA fans everywhere react quickly and rashly to this team’s early struggles as they opened the 2015-2015 NBA season at 0-2.
Tonight’s loss against Portland provided some hope, though.
The first half was just “Golden State: the Sequel” as far as being competitive goes, but the second half brought back some of the excitement and warmth that came with the offseason hype around new head coach Allen Gentry and a revamped Anthony Davis.
Blazers guard C.J McCollum straight up exploded in the first half and would end the game with a career high 37 points in 37 minutes on 14/22 shooting from the field. Damian Lillard looked good out the gates as well, contributing 21 points and a game high 11 assists.
Meanwhile, Davis really struggled.
In the first half, Davis scored only 8 points, missed numerous defensive rotations, and had a general “I don’t care” aura about him. Frankly, it was alarming to watch.
Twitter, Reddit, and everywhere else where basketball is spoken erupted with fear mongering statements and ideas about Davis sudden and abrupt change in production.
Some hypothesized that the effect of signing a $145 million dollar contract this summer may have taken away some his drive to prove himself.
There is a distinct difference in this league between the guys who are fighting for eternal financial security, and the guys who will never need to worry about money ever again. This summer Davis became the latter, so his early season “motivational” woes were cause for concern.
Oct 28, 2015; Portland, OR, USA; New Orleans Pelicans forward Anthony Davis (23) shoots over Portland Trail Blazers forward Al-Farouq Aminu (8) during the fourth quarter at the Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Craig Mitchelldyer-USA TODAY Sports
Another theory that spouted was that Davis was having somewhat of an “identity crisis” pertaining to his role on the offense end.
He was playing farther from the basket, he was chucking threes and long twos, he wasn’t boxing out, he wasn’t crashing the boards, he wasn’t driving to the rim, and he generally looked like a guy afraid to play like big man on the offensive end.
This could be a result of the training staff this summer pumping ideas into Davis’ head about his role as a “stretch” big man and encouraging him to stray from his previous style of play.
Limitless confidence and positivity towards this idea may have led him to believe he could be an entirely new player this season fairly easily, when in reality there is a decidedly clear learning curve.
In the words of J.K. Simmons character in the film Whiplash: “There are no two words more harmful than Good Job.”
Is it possible that AD heard those words so much this summer he simply got confused when he didn’t deliver?
Regardless of the reason why, for the first six quarters of the 2015-2016 NBA season Anthony Davis was a shell of himself.
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Then the second half began, and the sun came out in New Orleans once again.
Ryan Anderson was bombing from deep, Jrue Holiday was driving to the basket and taking heat check threes (played 21 minutes by the way), Eric Gordon was playing well of his teammates and for the first time Anthony Davis looked like he cared about winning the game.
Davis started fighting for offensive rebounds, competing on the defensive end (Though for some reason it didn’t affect C.J. “Michael Jordan” McCollum all that much) and hitting shots he knew he could hit.
He looked like the guy we watched last season, and he made a lot of Pelicans fans hop back on the ship before it sank and burned.
The Pelicans fought back in the fourth quarter and narrowed Portland’s lead to just 8 points (they were up by 27 at halftime) and looked like a professional basketball team again. No one was spectacular, but they weren’t the garbage group of moody looking dudes we watched last night or before halftime.
Oct 28, 2015; Portland, OR, USA; New Orleans Pelicans guard Jrue Holiday (11) drives past Portland Trail Blazers forward Ed Davis (17) during the fourth quarter at the Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Craig Mitchelldyer-USA TODAY Sports
Davis ended the game with 25 points, 10 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocks and 2 turnovers while shooting 10/17 from the field and 3/5 from deep (Once the threes started falling his confidence immediately improved). He was starting to find comfortable spots, but mostly he was just trying).
He pouted less and ran a little quicker, allowing his energy to feed the rest of the team.
I’m not sure AD will be the behemoth sure-fire MVP monster a lot of us thought he would be this year, but this game showed he’s still capable of being the guy who led us to the playoffs last season (with a three-point shot).
On Saturday, the Pelicans will rematch the Golden State Warriors at home in NOLA; and all eyes will be on Davis once again — hopefully after a night where he will have learned how to deal with the pressure……………