NBA 2018-19: 3 Talking points as New Orleans Pelicans beat the Minnesota Timberwolves

In a Western Conference match, the New Orleans Pelicans faced the Minnesota Timberwolves in what was supposed to be a hard match for them as they were missing their star player Anthony Davis.

But, much to the surprise of everyone a lot of players showed up for the Pelicans and helped them get to a victory in this match. They executed their plan and stuck to the basics, such as shooting well and taking care that they take quality shots. As a result, the final scoreline was 123-114.

After this match, the New Orleans Pelicans ended their bad December month as they won only 6 matches in that month. And because of that, they are ranked at 14th in the West, with a record of 17-21. On the other hand, Timberwolves also end their bad month of December with the 13th seed in the West and a record of 17-20.

Now, the 3 talking points from this game are.

#3 The parity in bench points for both teams

The NBA is a very team focused league. One can not hope of winning in this league without a good team. Thankfully for the Pelicans, to end their year on a winning note, the whole team came up with some sort of contributions to propel them towards a victory.

The Pelicans bench outscored the Timberwolves bench by 13 points. And the Timberwolves lost the game by 9 points. So, even if they had just scored as much as the Pelicans bench they would have won. That's how much important bench points are in today's league.

For the Pelicans, Darius Miller came up with crucial 21 points off the bench which made sure that they don't miss Anthony Davis too much and get the job done.

#2 Huge game for Julius Randle

The former Laker #7 pick in the draft, Julius Randle is making sure that he makes them regret not signing him back again. After leaving the Lakers in the free agency this year, Randle has been nothing but a more improved player.

His numbers have increased, he looks more dominant, more poised, better shaped and has a better-looking jumper, with which he has started to shoot 3-pointers.

In this game, as the Pelicans were sure to miss Anthony Davis, Randle stepped up and made sure that he filled the gap for Davis. And he made sure that he does it in such a fashion that the Pelicans come up with a huge win over the Timberwolves.

In today's game, Randle came up with 33 huge points and 11 rebounds which made sure that the Timberwolves didn't have a chance to win this game.

#1 Red hot shooting from the 3 by the Pelicans

New Orleans Pelicans swept the Timberwolves out of the game with their red-hot 3-point shooting streak in this game. They came in red hot and stayed hot throughout the game, and there was just no chance for the Timberwolves to do anything but to succumb to the pressure of scoring such consistent 3s to match-up to the Pelicans.

Almost everyone was shooting a 3 and trying to contribute in this Anthony Davis-less Pelicans They made 14 3s out of a total of 25. They shot at an efficiency of a whopping 56% which is clearly not normal for any team. And in any game a team shoots like that, it is almost always bound to win.

In their next game, the New Orleans Pelicans will face the Brooklyn Nets while the Minnesota Timberwolves will face the Boston Celtics in hopes of getting back to winning ways.