Atlanta had no answers for the ball movement or rebounding of New Orleans as the Pelicans drilled the Hawks 115-100 in the Smoothie King Center on Monday night. The Pelicans had a 30-19 lead in the assist department while dominating the glass 52-32. The loss snapped a 19-game winning streak for the Hawks as they dropped to 40-9 on the season.
Anthony Davis and Eric Gordon carried the scoring load for New Orleans in the win. Davis finished with 29 points on 12-for-23 shooting from the floor to go along with 13 rebounds, three assists and two blocks while Gordon totaled 20 points on 7-for-11 shooting, including 4-for-6 from 3-point land. He added seven assists and three rebounds as the Pelicans improved to 26-22 on the season. Four other Pelicans reached double figures, including Tyreke Evans and Ryan Anderson. Evans played a terrific floor game with 15 points, 12 assists, five rebounds and no turnovers while Anderson had 15 points and six rebounds. Omer Asik chipped in with nine points and a game-high 17 rebounds.
The Hawks were led by Jeff Teague who registered 21 points on 8-for-17 shooting to go along with seven assists. Paul Millsap added 15 points, six rebounds and two blocks while Kyle Korver managed 12 points on 5-for-7 shooting. The only other player to reach double figures for Atlanta was Dennis Schroder who had 10 points, five assists and two rebounds. All-star center Al Horford was limited to eight points, eight rebounds and four assists.
Jimmer Fredette found his way back into the rotation and came up big for the Pelicans. He saw 20:35 of action and ended up with 10 points on 3-for-6 shooting from the floor, including 2-for-5 from beyond the arc and 2-for-2 from the free-throw line. He added three assists, two rebounds, a career-high two blocks and a steal to go along with three turnovers.
He got on the board shortly after entering the game in the first quarter when he nailed a deep 3-pointer on a pass from Evans. He had a poor stretch early in the second quarter with all three of his turnovers coming in the first three minutes of the period. He did make up for one of them by stealing the ball right back. He made another big defensive play during that stretch with a block on a lay up attempt by Schroder. He added a pair of free-throws after drawing a foul from Jeff Teague to finish the half with five points. Fredette did the rest of his damage in the fourth quarter with a lay up and another deep 3-pointer to reach double figures in scoring while handing out all three of his assists. He also had his second block of the game on an attempted jumper by Schroder.
This is the fifth game this season that Fredette has played at least 20 minutes. In those games, he is averaging 11.2 points on 54 percent shooting from the floor and 100 percent from the free-throw line.
Up next for Jimmer and the Pelicans is a visit from the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night.
Go, Jimmer! 😉
LikeLike
worth repeating: fifth game this season that Fredette has played at least 20 minutes. In those games, he is averaging 11.2 points on 54 percent shooting from the floor and 100 percent from the free-throw line.
LikeLike