Resilient Pelicans win 5th straight without Davis, Anderson, Holiday
The New Orleans Pelicans figured to be in a world of trouble back on Feb. 21, when they lost both superstar power forward Anthony Davis and sweet-shooting sixth man Ryan Anderson within minutes of each other in the first half against the Miami Heat.
The Pelicans were 27-27 at the time, lagging well behind the Oklahoma City Thunder in the race for the Western Conference's final playoff seed, and already down starting point guard Jrue Holiday.
The Davis-Anderson double whammy left them without three of their top four scorers, not to mention, you know, one of the league's five best players.
But something strange happened after that. Rather than fold, the Pelicans went on to rout the Heat. Then they squeaked out wins over the Toronto Raptors, Brooklyn Nets, and the Heat again. Those teams may not be juggernauts, but they're no pushovers.
On Sunday, the Pelicans rolled into Denver to play the woebegone Nuggets. Despite already looking longingly ahead to the offseason, the Nuggets came out with a spirited effort, and played the Pelicans to a draw through three quarters.
Shooting guard Will Barton, who was a throw-in from the Portland Trail Blazers in the Arron Afflalo trade, had his fourth straight game of 15 or more points, dropping 16 (on 7-of-14 shooting) to go along with 10 rebounds off the bench.
The Nuggets also got a team-high 21 points from Danilo Gallinari, a positive sign given how hampered he's looked this season on the heels of a second major knee surgery.
He also did this, to tie the game just before the third-quarter buzzer:
In the fourth, though, the Pelicans finally woke up and started to pull away.
Alexis Ajinca, who's done a more than passable job stepping into the team's frontcourt void, scored eight of his 10 points in the final quarter. Eric Gordon, continuing his late-season resurgence, hit two massive 3-balls. Tyreke Evans, who has flourished as the team's primary ballhandler in Holiday's absence, had nine points and three assists in the game's last six minutes, as the Pelicans escaped with a 99-92 win.
As they've done continually during their impressive, shorthanded winning streak, they got contributions up and down the roster, and found a way to win.
And what's perhaps most amazing is that their five consecutive victories are the most they've strung together all season. Rather than go into a tailspin and drop out of the race, as many surely assumed they would, the Pelicans have hung tough, and sit just a half-game behind the Thunder for eighth in the West.
With another road game against the Dallas Mavericks less than 24 hours from now, they'll be hard-pressed to keep the streak alive. But they've more than stemmed the tide for now, and Davis could be returning from his shoulder injury soon.
The Thunder can't stop looking over their shoulders yet. This team is not going away.