New Orleans Pelicans: Revisiting Tyreke Evans' Career Night

On April 14, Tyreke Evans decided to go bananas against the Oklahoma City Thunder. He went for a career-high 41 points on 14-of-26 shooting from the field, while also adding nine rebounds and eight assists. A main reason for Evans’ explosion was that he assumed the lead dog role thanks to the absence of Eric Gordon, Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday due to injury.

I would assume that playing against the eventual MVP of the league was a factor as well.

Regardless, it was a career night for Evans and exactly the kind of play that Pelicans fans had hoped they would get when he was signed to a lucrative deal in the summer of 2013. Here is a YouTube video that highlights each play of his career night:

Playing alongside the likes of Austin Rivers and Darius Miller, Evans was the point guard by default and handled most of the ball-handling duties on the night.

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The first sequence of play in which he recovers the long rebound and leads an semi-fast break down the other end showcases the kind of playmaking ability Evans has because of his knack for driving to the basket. He used a slick Eurostep move to slice into the lane and then noticed Miller in the corner of his eye wide open for a three in the corner. A great decision by Evans.

He finds Austin in Rivers in the corner at the 0:37 mark using the same kind of tactics.

These long rebounds were a key to Evans’ success on this particular night. He would often get a long rebound and have nothing but open court in front of him, allowing him to form his own one-man fast break opportunity. The 1:47 mark is the best example of this, where Evans’ snatches the long rebound, weaves through three Thunder defenders and powers in a layup for the score plus a foul.

Thunder guard Reggie Jackson did not really have a chance.

It is clear throughout the video that the key to Evans’ game is whether he is able to penetrate the paint to either create shot opportunities for himself, others or make his way to the free throw line. Starting him at the point (something that will not happen once Jrue Holiday returns) created a mismatch against the Thunder guards. For example, go to the 1:19 mark and watch Evans leave poor Derek Fisher in the dust with a crossover on his way to the basket before dropping off a shovel pass to Anthony Morrow for the layup.

Aside from bullying smaller guards with his 6-foot-5, 220-pound frame, Evans’ excels when he is able to create an open driving line in the half court by way of his supreme handles to get to the basket. A great example of this is at the 3:03 mark when Evans faked like he was going to use the big man’s screen but then crossed back left quickly to gain a step on Thabo Sefolosha (who is one of the better defenders in the league) before laying the ball of the glass for two points.

You can hear Sefolosha yell “TRAVEL!” at the end of the play, but we are going to choose to ignore him.

A major flaw in Tyreke’s game is his lack of jump-shooting. Aside from the 3-pointer he buries at the 4:14 mark, all of his points were scored because of layups and free throws. As a matter of fact, six of the 12 shots he missed on the night were 3-pointers. This kind of practice will be unsustainable night in and night out.

Good defenders or team defenses will most likely elect to sag off of Evans to cut off his driving lanes and make him strictly a jump shooter. If he can ever form respectable jump shot to complement his driving ability, it would be a tremendous help to the Pelicans offense and Evans could potentially be an All Star.

He certainly has the talent to do it.

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New Orleans Pelicans: Revisiting Tyreke Evans’ Career Night

By Owen Sanborn | Sep 13, 2014