Hits and Flops: New Orleans Pelicans vs Portland Trail Blazers | NBA

The Portland Trail Blazers emerged as comfortable winners over the New Orleans Pelicans with a scoreline of 128-112. The match was a very high scoring affair between the two Western Conference rivals vying for a playoff spot.

Damian Lillard once again led the Blazers unit with 24 points. With the win, the Blazers have leapfrogged the Thunder to occupy the third place in the Western Conference playoff standings. They have a 28-19 record and look destined to again make the playoffs.

The New Orleans Pelicans are struggling badly and are the 12th ranked team in the loaded Western Conference. They have a 21-25 record this season and need to make a late playoff push if they want to repeat their success from last season.

The Blazers next visit the Utah Jazz whereas the Pelicans visit the Memphis Grizzlies who have lost 10 of their last 11 matches. The Pelicans need a victory badly from that match.

Let's have a look at the hits and the flops from the match:

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Flop - Anthony Davis

Anthony Davis failed to win this one for his team

Anthony Davis is one of the best players in the world. He is one of the leading contenders for the MVP award. He has been constantly putting in some mind-boggling numbers for his team and leads the NBA in PER.

Davis has been averaging 29.3 points, 13.3 rebounds, 4.4 assists, 2.6 blocks and 1.7 steals per game for the season. But this was a quite average outing from Davis' standards. He didn't look great in the match today.

He did put up 27 points on 9-17 shooting from the floor. But he was not a menace out there on the floor like he normally is. He had only 7 boards and 1 block for the match.

The Pelicans needed a lot more from their superstar in this match against one of the best home teams in the NBA.

Hit - Jake Layman

Layman was at his best tonight against the Pelicans

Jake Layman turned out to be one of the stars of the match. He lit up the Moda Center in the second quarter scoring 11 points on six possessions for the Trail Blazers.

Layman averages 6.6 points coming off the bench for the Trail Blazers. He dropped 20 points in this match, all in the second quarter. He took the game away from the Pelicans in that quarter, the Blazers had a 42-29 advantage in that quarter alone and led by as many as 17. The Blazers never allowed the Pelicans to get back in the match from that point onwards.

Layman has become a vital cog for the second unit. He shot 8-14 from the field and played 18 minutes coming off the bench. The Blazers will be hoping for similar performances from him in the upcoming matches.

Flop - Pelicans bench unit

Nikola Mirotic had an inefficient game for the Pelicans

The Pelicans did not get much production from their bench unit tonight. None of their bench players offered much to the team.

The Pelicans bench unit got outscored by the Trail Blazers bench unit by a scoreline of 42-25.

Mirotic led the Pelicans bench unit with 13 points on 3-10 shooting from the floor. None of the other bench players scored more than 5 points.

Darius Miller shot 1-5 from the field and scored only 5 points for the match. In total, the Pelicans bench unit combined to shoot 7-25 from the field.

This kind of performance from the second unit is never going to win matches in a tough road game.

Mirotic has been sensational for the Pelicans this year despite suffering from injuries. The Pelicans will be hoping for better performances from all of their bench players as they badly need to put together a string of victories to survive in the West.

Hit - Damian Lillard

Lillard is one of the best point guards in the league

Damian Lillard has again been the superstar for the Portland Trail Blazers. He is having an elite season and once again led the team to victory.

Lillard led the team in scoring with 24 points. He also dished out 8 assists for his teammates. Lillard is one of the best point guards in the NBA right now.

He continued his dazzling display in this match, driving to the rim at will and scoring himself or setting up his open teammates. CJ McCollum also provided ample support in the backcourt going for 20 points. The duo form one of the most lethal backcourt partnership in the entire NBA.

Lillard has been averaging 26 points and 6 assists for his team on 45 percent shooting from the field and 90 percent shooting from the free throw line. He is also one of the most clutch players in the league.

The Trail Blazers success this season will depend majorly on the displays from their superstar point guard.