J-Speaks: Pelicans Sweep Their Way to Semis

It had been a decade since the New Orleans Pelicans had posted a playoff series win. Their chances of breaking that long drought were put in major jeopardy on Jan. 26 when they lost All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins to a season-ending Achilles injury. All the Pelicans did was not only make the playoffs for the first time since 2015 but they did break that streak of not making appearance in the Semifinals, thanks to the play of their All-Star duo. 

Behind a franchise playoff record and playoff career-high of 47 points of Anthony Davis, and the 41 points of Jrue Holiday, the Pelicans finished off their four-game sweep of the Portland Trail Blazers winning Game 4 131-123 on Saturday afternoon to advance to the Western Conference Semifinals for the first time since 2008.

The last time the Pelicans won a playoff series was in 2008 when they were the New Orleans Hornets took down future Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks in five games. The dynamic trio that was leading them at the time was Chris Paul, now with the Houston Rockets; Tyson Chandler, now with the Phoenix Suns; and David West, now with the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors.  

Davis, who had 33 of those 47 points in the second half played Game 4, especially in the fourth quarter with the kind of determination of a player who wanted to lay the foundation of his postseason legacy with the kind of performance you would expect from a franchise player in a close out game. 

“It was fun,” Davis described sweeping the Trail Blazers to TNT’s sideline reporter Jaime Maggio after the win. “We had fun this whole series.” 

Davis added what this series win meant personally to him in the postgame presser by saying, “I just try to go out every game and play to the best of my ability to go out there and help the team win. Just trying to build a legacy here in New Orleans, and let people know that we’re for real.”

He did have a lot of help from Holiday, who was as equally devastating with his exceptional drives to the basket or his pull-up jumpers, going 15 for 23 from the field, and 9 for 12 from the charity stripe with eight assists. E’Twaun Moore scored 14 points and Nikola Mirotic who had a playoff career-high of 30 points in the Game 3 win on Thursday night had a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds. 

While he had just seven points, with seven rebounds, Pelicans lead guard Rajon Rondo had a game-high 16 assists and just two turnovers for the Pelicans and controlled the pace of the game the entire series.

He and Holiday’s defense against the explosive backcourt of the Trail Blazers in All-Star Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum was exceptional the entire series. Even though McCollum busted loose for a team-high 38 points for the visitors to the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, LA. Lillard, who was held to below the 20-point mark three of the four games had just 19 points on the late afternoon on 7 for 16 shooting with six assists and five boards. 

To bring how much Lillard struggled in this series into context, after not committing a turnover in Game 1 of this series, where he had just 18 points on 6 for 23 shooting, he committed a total of 16 turnovers the final three games.  

“Trying to guard those two guys, two hells of a players,” Davis said of his team’s task of checking Lillard and McCollum. “We just had to throw everything at them to get them off their rhythm. We did a great job defensively.”

Unlike Game 3, which the Pelicans won going away as mentioned 48 hours ago, Game 4 was a high octane, back-and-fourth offensive battle, especially after the Trail Blazers battled back from a 15-point deficit early in the second-half. 

To illustrate the kind of battle it was in Game 4, the contest featured five technical fouls; one flagrant foul and 49 combined personal fouls. 

Davis and Trail Blazers reserve forward Ed Davis, no relation received double techs after bumping one another following an A.D. dunk. 

McCollum was called for a flagrant foul after storming into the lane behind Moore and proceeded to grab the Pelicans swingman by his shoulders thwarting his attempt of a driving layup. Moore proceeded to shove McCollum, which led to both being assessed a technical foul. 

Another skirmish occurred in the closing second of the opening half where Rondo and Trail Blazers rookie center Zach Collins received double technical fouls after the Pelicans All-Star guard lowered his forehead into Collins chest, which led to Collins shoving him back.

“This game was a battle,” Davis said to Maggio. “It got chippy. It’s playoff basketball. We just kept fighting. Made sure that we just played defense and executed on the offensive end, and we was able to come out with this win.” 

What made the difference for Pelicans besides Davis and Holiday going off is they out-rebounded one of the best rebounding teams during the regular season in the Trail Blazers 52-37; registered 28 assists; and were 32 for 39 from the free throw line. 

While the Trail Blazers were just 13 for 16 from the charity stripe themselves, they got back in the game and stayed close because they committed just six turnovers; outscored the Pelicans in fast break points 19-11 and in the paint 66-60. 

They also got 27 points from forward Al-Farouq Aminu on 11 for 20 shooting including 5 for 11 from three-point range. His fellow front court teammate in Evan Turner, who missed Game 3 because of a toe contusion had 15 points and five assists and starting center Jusuf Nurkic had a double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds, with three steals and two blocks before fouling out late in the fourth quarter.

The last time the Pelicans were in the postseason with Davis as the headliner was in 2015, where the eventual NBA champion Warriors swept them in four games. 

When the Pelicans lost as mentioned earlier Cousins to a season-ending Achilles injury in their 115-113 win versus the Rockets on Jan. 26, many thought that the Pelicans playoff hopes went down the tubes. 

The Pelicans counting the playoffs have gone 25-13 since then and Davis has been at the center of the Pelicans rise ranking first in the league with averages of 30.5 points, and 3.1 blocks, and tied for No. 2 with 29 double-doubles in that span and said to Maggio after game that their play from that point in the regular season was a big help in preparing them for what took place in their sweep of the Trail Blazers. 

“It prepared us a lot,” Davis said. “We’ve been battling adversity all season. When DeMarcus went down, a lot of people counted us out and we just kept fighting.” 

“We knew what we had in this locker room. The coaching staff we have, and we just kept fighting through everything.” 

Along with having a great player in Davis, the Pelicans have a great coach in Alvin Gentry, who when Cousins went down changed the way the team played offensively from a team that went through Cousins and Davis in the half court to a team that played with pace and space with Rondo and Holiday at the forefront alongside Davis and Mirotic, who was acquired before the Feb. 8 trade deadline. 

Prior to this season, the Pelicans had registered records of 30-52 and 34-48 respectably under Gentry and he came into this season, fairly or unfairly on the hot seat. That seat got even warmer when Cousins went down, but he and his team kept on pushing and are now headed to the Semis for the first time in 10 seasons and had captured their first postseason sweep in the 16-year history of the franchise. 

“They never gave up. They never gave up on each other. They never gave up on anything,” Gentry, whose 20-9 in his postseason career said of his team’s resolve this season after the game. “We were hell bent on showing everyone that we could be a playoff team. We started that way, and even losing a guy that was averaging 26 [points] and 13 [rebounds] when he went down, we still thought that we got to find a way to show everyone we can still be a playoff team.” 

Gentry also said, “When I came here three years ago, I envisioned playing the kind of basketball that were playing now. I thought we would be an up-tempo team and be able to spread the floor. I thought A.D. was truly one of the top three or four best players in this league, and that was three years ago, and he’s improve a lot since then.” 

Rondo has said the reason he signed with the Pelicans back in the off-season is because of he thought that the so-called “Big Three” of Davis, Holiday and Cousins were one of the best trios in “The Association.”

“I’ve played with a lot of great players and what I see in these two guys every night, what they’re able to do when I go back and watch film, it’s amazing what they do,” Rondo, who recorded the 12^th game of his postseason career with 15-plus assists said in his postgame presser of the play of Davis and Holiday to close the regular season and what they did against the Trail Blazers. 

“I’m a big believer in the entire team watching film because you’re able to appreciate what your teammates do and what they do best, and you’re able to play to their strength.” 

Rondo added by saying that before each game he goes to Davis and Holiday, who were alongside him during his postgame presser to be great saying, “That’s what they are and the game spoke for them tonight.

That showed in this series as Davis averaged 33.0 points, 12.0 rebounds, and 2.8 blocks on 57.0 percent shooting, while Holiday averaged 27.8 points and 6.5 assists on 56.8 percent from the floor. Mirotic averaged 18.3 points and 9.5 boards on 57.1 percent from the floor, and 46.2 from three-point range. Rondo averaged 11.3 points, 13.3 assists and 7.5 rebounds. 

The question now is how far can the Pelicans go this postseason? Their likely opponent in the Semis will be the defending champion Warriors, whose series with the five-time NBA champion San Antonio Spurs got extended as the boys from Texas avoided the sweep with a 103-90 win in Game 4 on Sunday afternoon. They will have a chance to close the series out at home in Game 5 on Tuesday night. 

When asked about the Pelicans prospects going forward Rondo said, “I came here to win a championship.” 

“I didn’t come here to beat a team in the First-Round, the Second-Round. My expectations were high coming in, knowing the talent I was playing with. I think Day One when we all got together at Kentucky, and I knew it was kind of real as far as the talent we were playing with. The characteristics of the guys off the court kind of all meshed, and it took a while, but at the end of the day nothing comes together so quickly. We were able to come together. Continue to play for one another, believe in each other, and like I said this is one check mark of the big goal we have in mind.”

Information, statistics, and quotations are courtesy of 4/21/18 5 p.m. Game 4 First-Round Series Portland Trail Blazers versus New Orleans Pelicans on TNT, presented by Hulu with Ian Eagle, Brent Barry, and Jaime Maggio; 4/22/18 12:30 a.m. edition of ESPN’s “Sportscenter” with John Buccigross and John Anderson; 4/22/18 8 p.m. of NBATV’s Game 4 Postgame coverage of Portland Trail Blazers and New Orleans Pelicans; www.nba.com/games/20180421/PORNOP#/boxscore/recap; www.espn.com/nba/coaches/_/id/1499/alvin-gentry; www.espn.com/nba/team/schedule/_/name/no/new-orleans-pelicans; www.espn.com/nba/team/schedule/_/name/no/seasontype/3; and www.espn.com/nba/player/_/id/6606/damian-lillard.