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New Orleans Pelicans: Distribution Is Key

By Owen Sanborn

Feb 2, 2015; New Orleans, LA, USA; New Orleans Pelicans forward Anthony Davis (23) and forward Ryan Anderson (33) celebrate after a basket during the fourth quarter of a game against the Atlanta Hawks at the Smoothie King Center. The Pelicans defeated the Hawks 115-100. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 2, 2015; New Orleans, LA, USA; New Orleans Pelicans forward Anthony Davis (23) and forward Ryan Anderson (33) celebrate after a basket during the fourth quarter of a game against the Atlanta Hawks at the Smoothie King Center. The Pelicans defeated the Hawks 115-100. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports /
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The New Orleans Pelicans beat the

greatest team in the history of the universe

Atlanta Hawks on Monday, ending their 19-game winning streak and causing every media conglomerate to go into a complete frenzy.

“Are the Hawks still the best in the East?”

More from New Orleans Pelicans

“Should Atlanta be concerned?”

“Have the Hawks been EXPOSED?”

Stop it.

Atlanta was playing their third game in four nights against a hungry Pelicans team that was getting their top dog (Anthony Davis) back from injury. They were the better team on Monday night. The Hawks had to be defeated at some point.

Although New Orleans should take their victory with a grain of salt, there are still some things from the win that they can use for the remainder of the season.

The central theme for the Pelicans this season has been energy and distributing the basketball. Whenever they come out flying around on defense, whipping the ball around the perimeter and crashing the glass with vengeance, they have been a difficult team to knock off.

Where they fall into issues is when they choose to play “hero ball” and roam the court without purpose. These sequences often lead to stagnant offense, fast break opportunities for the opposition and presumably, losses.

When New Orleans is playing at their peak, they are a paint controlling team that shares the ball along the perimeter and wreaks havoc through their guards penetrating the lane. During the win over Atlanta, the Pellies had a whopping 30 assists, including twelve from Tyreke Evans and an additional seven from Eric Gordon.

Those kinds of statistics would have been deemed unheard of in the early stages of the season.

The story is much of the same during most Pelican victories throughout the season. Coach Monty Williams has preached ball distribution all year and it looks like something has finally clicked with the players.

“We just need to continue to do what we’ve been doing. The past couple games, we’ve been rebounding, defending, sharing the ball. We don’t care who scores. That’s what we have to do,” Davis said post-game on Monday.

When your team’s superstar player — perhaps even the MVP of the league — is saying those types of things, that’s a recipe for winning basketball. Too bad New Orleans resides in the Western portion of the United States.

But hey, when you lose to the New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics on the same road trip, maybe you don’t even deserve to be in the playoff picture (I promise I’m not bitter).

A question that has been raised on Twitter and other outlets is whether or not Evans should retain the role of starting point guard once Jrue Holiday returns from his leg injury. Evans puts so much pressure on the defense with his combination of size and deceptive handle that his presence as the main ball handler within the starting lineup would be greatly missed.

Inserting Evans at point guard has allowed Williams to place hard-nosed forward Dante Cunningham at the small forward spot, making the Pelicans a more versatile (not to mention menacing) team. Cunningham supplies great energy and length along with good defensive instincts. He knows exactly what is role is, which is valuable to a team with plenty of scoring options.

If I were Williams, I would consider bringing Holiday off of the bench as the team’s sixth man/back up point guard. The back up point guard spot has been a wasteland for the Pelicans all season as they have cycled through name after name without any positive returns.

Jimmer Fredette, for all of his gym rat mentalities, should not have a major role (more than 10 minutes a game) on a potential playoff team right now and Nate Wolters will not be retained. There is a spot to be filled there and Holiday’s name might be written all over it.

Perhaps Williams can study how the Phoenix Suns rotate their exceptional guards and implement a similar system in New Orleans. With the way that Evans and Gordon are playing right now, it will be difficult to break up that backcourt tandem. It would certainly be a bitter pill to swallow for Holiday (who is a good player in his own right), but winning always cures all ills.

Something to watch out for in the future.

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