Behind an MVP effort in the second half from Anthony Davis, New Orleans pulled ahead late, then they almost blew the game, then they took the lead on a phantom call, then they almost saw the lead disappear because no call was made. But in the end, the Pelicans were able to hold on and beat the Warriors in New Orleans, 103-100.
2015 NBA scores: Pelicans jump back into No. 8 seed with win over Warriors
A home win over Golden State, coupled with a Thunder loss to the Spurs, puts New Orleans back in the playoff picture.
Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
At the same time, about 700 miles away, the Spurs were wiping the floor with the Thunder. That loss, coupled with New Orleans' win, means the Pelicans, now at 42-35, are a half-game ahead of Oklahoma City. They also hold the tiebreaker over the Thunder, who have now lost four in a row. That means that New Orleans is now in eighth place in the Western Conference with a week to go in the season. That, obviously, is very good news for the Pelicans.
On this night, New Orleans was able to ride it’s MVP candidate to a win. After a slow start, and just eight first half points, Anthony Davis morphed back into the beast that he has been for most of the season. He finished with 29 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks. He scored on jump shots, pick-and-rolls and drives to the rim. He had a key and-1 in the game’s final two minutes and grabbed the game-deciding rebound after Stephen Curry’s three-point attempt with less than five seconds left, which would have tied the game, rimmed out.
Of course, that shot shouldn't have counted in the first place. Curry, who finished with a team-high 25 points, dribbled up court, pump faked, got Quincy Pondexter to jump in the air but couldn't create contact. Curry then dropped the ball, but with time running out decided to pick it up and heave it towards the basket. The ball went halfway down before coming off the rim. Had it not, the Pelicans would have had a legitimate gripe. Then again, they did take their final lead on a Tyreke Evans foul shot that should never have been -- it was ruled that he was tripped by Andre Iguodala; really Evans just fell down while trying to cross Iguodala over -- so perhaps harping on what should have counted and what shouldn't have is a silly exercise.
And anyway, none of that matters anymore. What does is that if the playoffs started today the Pelicans would be in and they would be facing off in a best-of-seven series against the Warriors. New Orleans has five games left in its season; Oklahoma City has four. A lot can happen in that time, but what we learned Tuesday was that the Pelicans are not going to roll over. On Tuesday they held Klay Thompson to 2-of-10 shooting and Harrison Barnes to seven points. Pondexter, on the other end, connected on all four of his three-point attempts and finished with 20 points.
And of course, New Orleans still has Davis. He and Curry are going to be fighting over the league’s MVP award for the next half-decade. After the Pelicans’ most recent win, it seems like first of their hopefully many head-to-head battles may be about a week away.
3 other things we learned
Kawhi Leonard is a Monstar. He's got the arms and hands of one, and is certainly playing like one of the Space Jam aliens. Here's his box score from the Spurs' Tuesday night 113-88 shellacking of the Thunder: 26 points on 10-of-15 shooting, 4-of-4 from downtown, three steals and all despite only playing 24 minutes. Leonard has played a total of 48 minutes in his past two games. In those games he's scored 53 points, recorded seven steals and has gone a ridiculous 21-of-32 from the field. None of that even touches on the defense he's playing. Tuesday he made life miserable for Dion Waiters and Russell Westbrook. Leonard has become one of the best players in the league, someone who can score in a variety of ways -- check out his post moves! -- and lock anyone down.
As for his team, with their most recent win the Spurs are now 52-26. They’ve won eight in a row, nine out of 10 and 18 out of 21. The playoffs are about to start and Pop’s crew is clicking, again. The rest of the West should be very afraid.
The Heat have some life. They almost didn't, after nearly blowing an 11-point fourth quarter lead Tuesday. At one point the Hornets trimmed the deficit to three. But Goran Dragic had his best game since moving to Miami, and helped the Heat keep their playoff hopes alive. He scored 28 points, including 11 in the fourth quarter, as Miami pulled out a 105-100 home win. The Heat are now 35-43, a half-game behind eighth place Boston and 1.5 games behind seventh place Brooklyn. Which of these teams end up making the playoffs probably doesn't matter, but it will still be fun to watch down the stretch. As for Charlotte ...
... The Hornets are done. Not officially, but we're now almost there. Charlotte is now 33-44 and in 11th place in the East. Sure, the team could mount an epic final week, but that's pretty unlikely. Also, even if the Hornets did, they'd have to get a lot of help. What was supposed to be an exciting season for Michael Jordan's crew will end with a trip to the lottery. RIP Lance, Big Al and everyone else. We hardly knew you.
Play of the Night
Omer Asik tried guarding Stephen Curry. It didn’t go very well.
5 fun things
Erik Bledsoe argued after a call went in his favor and then got ejected. Yeah, you read that correctly.
Scores
Heat 105, Hornets 100 (Hot Hot Hoops recap | At the Hive recap)
Pelicans 103, Warriors 100 (The Bird Writes recap | Golden State of Mind recap)
Spurs 113, Thunder 88 (Pounding the Rock recap | Welcome to Loud City recap)
Kings 116, Timberwolves 111 (Sactown Royalty recap | Canis Hoopus recap)
Clippers 105, Lakers 100 (Clips Nation recap | Silver Screen and Roll recap)
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