NBA 2018-19: 3 Talking points from the New Orleans Pelicans' Blowout Win Over the Cleveland Cavaliers

The New Orleans Pelicans were desperate for a win after having dropped a quiet winnable game against the Brooklyn Nets recently. They bounced back in dominant fashion, thanks to the miserable Cavaliers run lately, and took an imposing 133-98 victory.

The Cavaliers ninth straight loss came as the aftermath of a closed-door meeting that Coach Drew held with his players after a 26-point blowout loss to Utah the night before. Nothing good came off the conversation apparently, as the Cavs lost their sixth straight home game, and dropped to a league-worst 8-32 (0.200) record on the season, having now lost 11 of their last 12 games.

The Pelicans snapped their six-game road losing streak (they are 5-16 on the road this season), having won just three of their last ten games. Surprisingly, they are currently the second worst team on the West leaderboard (after the Phoenix Suns) and hold an 18-22(0.450) win-loss record. Despite the Cavs being miserable, the Pels left no lack of intensity and focus on the defensive end until the final buzzer.

Let's draw out some key takeaways from this much-need NOLA win over the nose-diving Cavaliers side.

#1 Anthony Davis and Julius Randle post solid double-doubles

Anthony Davis is currently averaging 28.5 ppg(4th best) this season.

AD finished with 20 points and 10 boards (3 of them being on the offensive glass), along with a game-high four steals to his name. He shot a decent 6-off-12 from the field and chipped in with a couple of blocks as well, all this while committing just one turnover. He has scored 20 or more points in 11 consecutive games now, averaging almost 30 points per game across the previous ten clashes.

Julius Randle was tied with Jrue Holiday for a game-high total of 22 points, while also adding 10 rebounds and 8 dimes, falling short of a triple-double by just a couple of assists. Randle stepped up with the most minutes (33) for the Pelicans in this game, shooting a decent 8-of-14 from the floor on the night.

"This was really good for us, a win like this," Randle said. "I like what we were doing on the defensive end."

#2 The Pelicans shot better from everywhere and took over the game in the second half

Pelicans' FG% is the third-best in the league right now.

As a collective unit, New Orleans shot above 50% from the field as well as from the distance, They finished with a blazing 47-of-81 (58%) shooting night, dropping almost 60% of their shots in the first half. From the distance, they made 14-of-27 bringing their long-ranger conversion up to an impressive 52% on the night.

They took care of the FT line as well, netting 25 of the 29 free-throws Cleveland rewarded them with, as NOLA stretched the 9-point advantage at halftime to as much as 31 in the second half. They started off with a 15-0 spurt to begin the third and caught their opponents off guard.

The defensive aggression was visible as the Pels piled up 13 steals and 7 blocks, forcing the Cavs to commit 20 turnovers in the game. The Bench bounced back from a 5-point effort against the Nets, with Miller & Okafor finishing in double digits while all the others (except Solomon Hill) ended up on the scoring board as well.

#3 The Cavaliers played subpar quality of basketball, and are now officially the worst team in the NBA

Cavaliers now hold the worst record in the league.

The Cavs latest home loss (their sixth in a row at home) was the fifth by a deficit of 20 points or more, which is, unfortunately, an NBA record.

Coach Drew's post-game meeting did not do them much good evidently, as he finds himself helpless and in need of a miracle to get his guys going,

"We can't continue to go at this rate," Drew said. "I refuse to. It's important these guys understand that, one, this is not acceptable and, two, I'm not going to let this continue at this pace. I've got to do something different."

When the Pelicans started off the third quarter with a 15-0 run, Drew called timeout and benched four starters(leaving on Larry Nance Jr. on the floor), in a hope to shuffle some luck out of the bag. The lead ballooned to 39 at one point in the final period of the game.

Cleveland's chronic injury problems have had a fatal toll on their season. With Rodney Hood (sore left Achilles) and Matthew Dellavedova (sprained left foot) not available, it was too much to handle for the team in too less a time. Although All-Star forward Kevin Love has shown signs of basketball activity post-surgery, it is still not certain when he can be back with game-time fitness.