The New Orleans Pelicans (15-14) have won a wild exchange of blows with the Milwaukee Bucks (15-11). In the 115:108 victory, the team from the Big Easy was too sloppy for a long time and didn’t turn up until the fourth quarter. There it was the previously disappointing DeMarcus Cousins who won the victory for his colours.
The good news came before the game started. Anthony Davis returned to the line-up after losing five of his last games. A cheerful, even-tempered affair developed, in which, however, only limited defense was played. No team was able to work out a double-digit lead, the lead changed 17 times.
Only in the middle of the fourth quarter did the momentum seem to tip over in favour of the hosts, also because DeMarcus Cousins (26 points, 13 rebounds, 7 assists, 9 turnovers) suddenly played with energy and pulled the audience out of their seats with an insane putback-dunk over John Henson. It was the center that set it to 115:108 22 seconds before the end of downtown and put the lid on this game.
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However, Boogie played so well in the fourth quarter: The 36 minutes before were sometimes hair-raising with numerous unnecessary ball losses, poor transition defenses and non-existent boxouts. The fact that New Orleans were still in the game after three quarters was mainly due to the good performances of Anthony Davis (25.10 Rebounds), E’ Twaun Moore (21.4/6 Dreier) and Darius Miller (9.3/5 Dreier). Jrue Holiday (16 points, 8 assists) was not as hot as in the previous games, but still showed a solid performance.
In the Bucks Giannis Antetokounmpo (32 points, 9 rebounds, 5 steals) shouldered the burden during the attack. In the final section, he was almost completely logged out. Khris Middleton (15 points, 5/19 FG) had problems with his litter, but distributed 10 assists. John Henson and Eric Bledsoe (4 steals) each contributed 14 points.
Pelicans vs. Bucks: This way to the BOXSCORE!
Anthony Davis. The constant on the Pelicans team. Unlike his cousins, he didn’t make any mistakes in his comeback and held up against it in the third quarter, when Milwaukee seemed to be able to break away. His middistance jumper fell solidly, and several times he escaped from his opponents for simple dunks. Also with a strong defence in the fourth quarter against the Greek Freak, who only scored one field goal.
Gary Payton II. The weak point in an otherwise quite homogeneous Bucks team. His litter was not respected by the Pelicans at all – and justifiably (6 points, 3/9 FG). Also made some bad decisions in Transition, when the bucks were outnumbered. Milwaukee was therefore unable to pull away in a phase when the Pelicans were acting erratic.
Milwaukee managed to score good matchups in Antetokounmpo for three quarters. Switches enabled the Greek to often post up against smaller opponents and thus prevent the duel with Davis. The Pels reacted occasionally with double teams when DeAndre Liggins or Gary Payton II were on the field. In addition, coach Alvin Gentry mostly did not use his small line-up with three guards to counteract the length of the Bucks team. In the fourth quarter, the pels were able to contain the switches, which meant that Giannis had to attack Davis again and again.