New Orleans Pelicans: Life Without Anthony Davis
By Owen Sanborn
With the 20-2 Golden State Warriors coming to town and Anthony Davis on the sidelines, things looked bleak for the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday night.
Life without Davis was expected to be a long, bumpy ride, even if it was only for a short period of time (he is hoping to come back sooner rather than later from an apparent chest contusion).
How would they generate offense without their focal point? Who would help Omer Asik contain dribble drives from the savvy Steph Curry and Klay Thompson?
Luckily for New Orleans, Monty Williams and his staff formulated a solid game plan to help compensate for the loss of The Brow, leading a feisty loss in overtime by the Pelicans.
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One of the biggest takeaways from the game was the assertive nature of the backcourt of Jrue Holiday and Tyreke Evans. Holiday routinely looked for his shot more while coming off screens, off the dribble or in pick and roll situations. He attempted 24 field goals, which is about ten above his season average.
Holiday knew he had to be on par with the impressive antics of Curry and pick up the offensive slack without the 24.3 points per game that Davis pours in.
He filled both of those roles admirably by nearly matching Curry’s point total (34 for Curry 30 for Holiday) and wreaking enough havoc on the defensive end (five steals) to keep the Pelicans in the game.
Along those same lines, Tyreke Evans stepped up his game by assuming the lead dog role and being a drive and kick menace. Whenever the Warriors went on one of their signature shooting spurts to extend their lead into double digits, Evans was always there to stop the bleeding.
His 25 field goal attempts nearly matched Holiday and was 9 more than his season average.
Evans has shown time and time again that he is capable of leading the Pelicans offensively if his number is called. That is a nice asset to have if Davis is ever to miss any extended period of time.
While Davis is on the floor, 50 percent of his shot attempts occur with 15-7 seconds left on the shot clock, according to NBA.com. Without Davis on the floor, New Orleans attempted to attack the Warriors’ top ranked defense early in the shot clock with quick drive and kicks.
When the offense was humming, Holiday and Evans were pushing the ball at a great pace in order to create easy shot attempts. The Warriors turning the ball over 19 times was a great kickstart to the offense as well, allowing the Pelicans to get out in transition.
Davis’ absence was felt when the early in the shot clock chances were taken away by the defense and an actual offense had to be run. The gravity of Davis’ presence on the floor completely changes the way a team defends the Pelicans.
He routinely requires extra attention on post ups and dribble drives that help create open looks along the perimeter.
Typically, Holiday or Evans can throw the ball into Davis around the 17 second mark of the shot clock and let him go to work (which is why most of his attempts come in the 15-7 second range). Davis’ ability to score at a high clip during these situations masks New Orleans offensive inefficiencies.
Without that go-to presence within the painted area, New Orleans was relegated to taking low percentage jump shots late in the shot clock. Luckily for them, a lot of these shots were tickling the twine which allowed them to keep pace with Golden State.
Davis is reportedly doubtful to play against the Utah Jazz on Tuesday night so it will be imperative that Holiday and Evans are able to step up on the offensive end once again. Austin Rivers needs to take on a more assertive scoring role as well and Ryan Anderson needs to stop forcing up contested three pointers that are not within the flow of the offense.
Life without a top 3 player in the NBA is no picnic, especially in the rugged Western Conference, and every possession becomes even more critical for the Pelicans if they intend to come out on the winning side of things.
The timetable for the Davis’ return is unknown for now, much like New Orleans’ hopes of making the playoffs.
Get well AD, we all miss watching your excellence.