New Orleans Pelicans: Top 3 individual performances from the 2018-19 NBA season

The New Orleans Pelicans started the 2018-19 NBA season as one of the teams to watch out for. They were superb in the 2018 playoffs sweeping the Portland Trail Blazers and eventually losing to the defending champs, the Golden State Warriors.

But the 2018-19 season didn't start particularly great for them. They lacked consistency in the beginning. Then during the trade deadline, Anthony Davis' trade saga dominated the proceedings.

But there were also some positives from the season for the New Orleans Pelicans. Anthony Davis is still with them. David Griffin is adamant that he can convince Davis to re-sign with the Pelicans. The Pelicans hit a jackpot during the NBA draft lottery getting the rights to the number 1 pick and can now sign a transcendental talent like Zion Williamson.

The Pelicans also have other good players in Jrue Holiday and Julius Randle. They also performed at a very high level during the 2018-19 season.

Let's have a look at the top three individual performances from the 2018-19 NBA season:

#3 Julius Randle's 45 points against the Portland Trail Blazers

Julius Randle was terrific for the Pelicans

Randle had a great career year with the Pelicans. He averaged 21.4 points, 8.7 rebounds and 3.1 assists on a 53% shooting from the field.

In a regular season matchup against the Blazers, Julius Randle displayed his full potential. He stuffed up the stat sheet going for 45 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists on an unbelievable 20-34 shooting from the field. He also played a total of 42 minutes for his team.

The Pelicans ended up losing the match by a score of 122-110 but the destruction that Randle could cause was on full display. Randle has a player option to stay with the New Orleans Pelicans for one more year or he can reject and enter Free Agency.

#2 Anthony Davis' 46 points against the Los Angeles Clippers

Anthony Davis had a superb season for the Pelicans

Anthony Davis had another superstar year for the Pelicans. He was leading the league in PER for more than half of the season.

In a match against the Los Angeles Clippers on January 14, Anthony Davis was unbelievable and brought his team to victory. He finished with 46 points, 16 rebounds, 3 steals and 1 block. He also shot 16-34 from the field and 12-12 from the FT line.

He was properly supported by Julius Randle who ended with 27 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists on 10-19 shooting from the field. Montrezl Harrell led the Clippers with 26 points and 10 rebounds. Gallinari added another 25 points for the Clippers.

The match was a close encounter throughout. The Pelicans got the win courtesy of a 15-6 run during the later stages of the match.

#1 Anthony Davis' superb clutch display against the Dallas Mavericks

Anthony Davis had another superstar season for the Pelicans on an individual front. He averaged 26 points,12 rebounds and 4 assists per game to go along with 2.4 blocks and 1.6 steals.

In a match against the Dallas Mavericks on December 28, Anthony Davis held off a Doncic-led Mavs to get the win by a score of 114-112. Davis hit a go-ahead, fall away jumper with 43.9 seconds left and scored a season-high 48 points in the match. He also had 17 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks in the match. He shot an amazing 20-32 from the field and the Mavs never found a way to contain him.

Doncic was great for the Mavs too. He scored 34 points and made 7 out of his 10 3-pointers. This was a hugely exciting match and Davis made the difference in the end.