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Final Score: New Orleans Pelicans beat Dallas Mavericks 132-106
Stats:
Mavericks- 45 rebounds, 26 assists, 4 blocks and 7 steals
Pelicans- 46 rebounds, 36 assists, 6 blocks and 12 steals
The New Orleans Pelicans improved to a .500 record as they reached 13-13 with a huge 26 point win over inform side Dallas Mavericks at the Smoothie King Center. The two bigs for the Pelicans shone as they contributed 27 points apiece as they helped collect 60 points in the paint to the Mavericks 48.
DeAndre Jordan struggled massively against the Pelicans as he only scored 2 points and grabbed 8 rebounds in the 24 minutes he played as he just could not find his rhythm at any time throughout the game.
The two sides have recently been heading in opposite directions, as the Pelicans have struggled to capitalise on a good start to the season with a 4-6 stretch over the past 10 games while the Mavericks were 8-2 in their last 10 heading into this matchup. Although a blow out second quarter saw New Orleans take a 16 point lead at the main break, one they never looked like letting go throughout the second half.
Now we will go on to the three main takeaways from this game in New Orleans.
#1 Player of the Game - Julius Randle
Julius Randle had an exceptional outing in only his sixth game in the starting lineup for the New Orleans Pelicans. With 27 points and 18 rebounds, while shooting 68 percent from the field, Randle was well and truly the difference in the Pelicans 26-point route of the Dallas Mavericks.
The shift from sixth man to starter worked wonders in the absence of Nikola Mirotic who has now missed two games with an illness. Randle has been putting up numbers off the bench all year, averaging just under a double-double at 18.6 points per game along with 9.3 rebounds per game in just 26 minutes.
Randle being fed into the starting lineup gave star Anthony Davis a chance to relax on his rebounding duties, only grabbing 4 boards - nine below average - as Randle did his best to reach every loose ball.
#2 DeAndre Jordan's struggles
DeAndre Jordan has been in excellent form recently and has looked to be one of the best free agent signings of the offseason, bar the obvious big names like LeBron James. The Dallas centre faced a huge struggle against one of the best big men in the league, Davis, and the energetic Randle in the loss against the Pelicans.
Jordan was on the court for 24 minutes and only managed to put up two shots for the entire game, only making one. His 2 points and 8 rebounds were massively down from his season averages of 11 points and 13 boards a game as he struggled to find his way into the game, like many of the Dallas players.
Not only did the 30-year-old centre struggle to make an impact on offence, but Jordan also could do nothing to stop the Pelican bigs from putting on a show as they amassed 54 points combined.
This was definitely Jordan's worst game of the season and he will look to be better next time out.
#3 New Orleans Pelicans' lineup changes
The Pelicans went into this game with a rather different starting lineup to what they've put out for the majority of the season. Davis and Jrue Holiday were the only starters who have started over seven games this season, while Randle, Solomon Hill and Tim Frazier were all given their sixth, second and seventh starts of the season, respectively.
The move of Randle from sixth man to starter in the absence of Mirotic has already been discussed as Randle put on a great display in his advanced role. The other move from the Pelicans, as they opted to start E'Twaun Moore on the bench for the first time this season, and only the third time across the past two years, and give Hill his second start of the season gave the starting unit a better look defensively and also enjoyed a boost on offence from their bench.
Moore scored 17 points and had six assists as he ran the bench unit, in his 26 minutes played, making 75 percent of his three-pointers.
