NBA: Dallas loses against strong pelicans around Holiday and Davis despite Season-High of Nowitzki

The New Orleans pelicans (36-26) could once again rely on strong performances from Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday in their final 126:109 win over Dallas Mavericks (19-45). The Pelicans’ winning streak was expanded to eight games in a row.

The Dallas-Defensive had their focus on Anthony Davis from the beginning of course, but “The Brow” was hit by several Mavs during his offensive actions and discarded half of his eight litter attempts. But this meant more space for co-star Jrue Holiday, who gave the Pelicans a 33:25 lead after the first quarter with 13 points. Dirk Nowitzki kept his Mavs at 11 points in striking distance.

Without Davis and Holiday on the field, the Pelicans shifted their offensive to the perimeter. Nikola Mirotic ran hot and hit three distance throws in a row, while Dallas did not hit a threesome in the second round. Especially in the minutes without the Rim-Protection of Davis, Dallas deliberately attacked the Pelicans’ basket – with a moderate result: Dennis Smith Jr. and Harrison Barnes had the biggest success with 8 and 7 points respectively. However, New Orleans extended their lead to 65:49 at half-time.

After Rick Carlisle’s halftime speech, the Mavs presented a much better cast selection and were now able to hit more from outside. Again, it was the one-two punch of Barnes and Smith that led the best offensive quarter of Dallas so far. A rainbow trio from Dirk Nowitzki reduced the gap in front of the final quarter to 91:78.

Dallas then overran the opponents at the beginning of the fourth quarter with a 9-0 run. However, New Orleans did not panic and countered with a 10-0 run, which set Maverick’s hopes of victory on a tight schedule. Rajon Rondo was unusually aggressive with 10 points in the quarter and the Pelicans drove the 126:109 victory calmly home.

With a total of 14 points, 10 assists and 9 rebounds Rondo missed a triple double by a hair’s breadth. Davis struggled a little bit with his throwing rate (9/19 FG), but with 23 points, 13 rebounds, 3 blocks and 3 steals Davis delivered a strong performance overall. Only Holiday, who was top scorer with 30 points (12/19 FG) was even better.

On the part of the Mavericks, Nowitzki achieved a new season best score with 23 points (8/13 FG) and made a fresh impression overall. Smith Jr. Nowitzki also equalled with 23 points, but needed some more throws (9/22 FG). Maxi Kleber, who had previously lost most of his minutes to Nerlens Noel, was not used for the second time in the last three games.

Dallas Mavericks (19-45) vs. New Orleans Pelicans (36-26)109:126 (BOXSCORE)

Dallas showed a disastrous cast selection, especially in the first half. Without a real ball movement, far too many Mavericks ball possessions ended up with half-cooked drives to the basket. With a throwing rate of 48.5 percent, they showed a weak performance during the entire game near the basket.

Much too late, life entered the Dallas offensive. After only a threesome in the first half, the Mavericks scored a total of nine in the second half. As sad proof of the weak ball movement in the Dallas offensive, however, the Mavs only managed two corner-three attempts during the 48 minutes.

Against the mostly harmless defensive of the Mavericks, the Pelicans could record a very efficient throwing performance even without a real top performance of Anthony Davis. Only for the sixth time in the current season did New Orleans finish a game with at least 45% from outside and over 53% from the field.

With the eighth victory in a row, Davis and the Pelicans are missing only two more to break the franchise record of 2010. During the winning streak, Pelicans score an impressive 126 points per game.

Alvin Gentry (Pelicans coach) about Holiday:”He is playing really very good basketball right now. He just plays with self-confidence, hits well – but also does all the little things and does a very good job of using his fellow players.”

Jrue Holiday. The All-Star from 2013 showed an absolute masterpiece. The Dallas-Guards were completely overwhelmed against his physics and even when the Mavericks Barnes turned against him, Holiday could not be stopped.

J.J. Barea. Due to the injury-related failure of Wesley Matthews, it was clear that Barea (13 points, 5/14 FG) would get more responsibility in this game. However, he could hardly offer the Mavericks any added value on an offensive basis and was completely ineffective, especially near the basket. In addition, the Puerto Rican proved to be defensive and completely overtaxed.

Halftime speech by Rick Carlisle. After the expected intake, his protégés showed themselves to be much more disciplined and diligently practiced shot chart cosmetics. From Mavs’ point of view, however, the insight of his players came too late.