New Orleans Pelicans vs Dallas Mavericks: 3 Takeaways

The New Orleans Pelicans hosted the Dallas Mavericks at the Smoothie King Centre on Wednesday night, and were still without Nikola Mirotic. After losing to the clippers on Monday night, the Pelicans were looking for a win. The Mavericks were coming off a 2 game winning streak after defeating the Clippers & the Blazers.

New Orleans went home with the win, beating the Mavericks 132 - 106.

#1 Scoring is the most important this for the Pelicans

The Pelicans scored a huge 132, which came from the three highest scorers of the night: Anthony Davis & Julius Randle each with 27 points, and Jrue Holiday with 17 points. They currently sit second in the league for average points per game, trailing only to the Milwaukee Bucks.

The Pelicans hammered the basket, possession after possession and were too much for the Mavericks to hold off. The return of Mirotic will only add to the coring, as he is currently averaging 18.9 points per game. Along with their fast pace, the ability to score and score lots will be what will give them a chance against some of the tougher teams in the competition.

#2 The Mavericks are Luka Doncic's team now

Prior to the season, the comparison between Luka Doncic & Dirk Nowitzki were already being made, and there were already talks that Dirk will be able to pass the torch on to Luka, but nobody could have expected that Luka would have been this good so quickly. While the Pelicans kept him to only 8 points, watching the way he runs the offence is what sets him apart.

His court vision to DeAndre Jordan or the way he uses his step-back jump shot has put him as the front runner for Rookie of the Year. When Dirk returns from injury, it will be both interesting & exciting to see how they will interact with each other on the court. Doncic is already so good, it's exciting to think about what he could be playing alongside Dirk.

#3 Anthony Davis is keeping basketball in New Orleans

The Pelicans need to keep Davis in order to keep the franchise in New Orleans. Recently there has been talks of a basketball team coming back to Seattle, and the team that keeps getting touted is the Pelicans.

According to espn.com, the Pelicans average home game attendance sits just over 15,000, which is down from last years average of just under 16,500. If The Pelicans can't convince Davis to sign the supermax when he is eligible by adding another star and by making it deeper into the playoffs, then there is a good chance that the franchise may be moving from New Orleans.