Pelicans Earn First Win, Davis Injures Hip

The New Orleans Pelicans won 34 games in 2013-14, and then Anthony Davis showed up on the scene.

New Orleans star Anthony Davis is sitting out Wednesday night’s game against the Atlanta Hawks because of a bruised right hip. “I thought we played extremely hard”.

The injury plagued Pelicans welcomed Jrue Holiday and Omer Asik back to the lineup.

Whether that curse was his reaction to the foul or because he hurt himself is not clear, but knowing Davis is hurt it makes the play stand out a bit. The New Orleans Pelicans are allowing 38.8 percent shooting from deep and have allowed 100-plus points in every game this season. He did not return for the second half as the team announced he suffered a hamstring strain.

Paul Millsap: He put up 19 points, including seven in the third quarter, and had two three-point plays late in the fourth quarter. “We came out in the second half with something we thought would work, and stuck to one thing”.

For the first time in what feels like years, the Pelicans had more points at the end of an National Basketball Association game than their opponent.

And though the Pels didn’t win a second-straight game, they gave coach Alvin Gentry most everything else he wanted to see.

The Pelicans never trailed Tuesday night and led by as many as 25 points.

There are a couple of “here we go again” thoughts to this. We finished the [first] half brutal.

“Obviously, when (Davis) goes out, guys have to step up”, Anderson said. Tonight they absolutely mauled Dallas (a tough veteran savvy and experienced team) by simply adding an average level center and getting a solid 15 first half minutes from their PG.

Despite starting the season on a six-game losing streak, New Orleans’ players are not anxious about the slow start to the season. Perhaps Nenê, who is also rumored to be in the trading block, could suffice to add brawn beside Davis in the Pelicans frontcourt, but generally, there is no striking indication that Gentry is interested in any of the Wizards’ players. The Mavericks followed by missing their first three field-goal attempts and by the time Pachulia broke a almost three-minute drought on a layup the Mavericks were already down by 12.