The Atlanta Hawks defeated the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday evening to put them 1-0 in pre-season whilst sending the New Orleans Pelicans to 1-1. This was a very stereotypical pre-season game, lots of errors by both teams, poor shooting, and lots of shared minutes throughout the rotation, this being highlighted by no one playing over 30 minutes in the game.
Atlanta was in control for most of the game, and the game looked over with Atlanta taking a 15-point lead into the fourth. New Orleans made a late comeback and pulled within 3 with less than two minutes to go, but a late John Jenkins three was the dagger. Those three points were 3 of Jenkins' 13 on an impressive night for the third year man. Along with his 13 points, Jenkins also pulled down 6 boards. Although it was not such a hot night for the Hawks newly acquired fifth overall pick, Adreian Payne, who went 1-6 from the field but did grab 7 rebounds in the game. Payne struggled to get any form of shooting rhythm.
One of the main reasons the Pelicans struggled on the night was due to their bench having a very lackluster night, apart from Ryan Anderson, who led the team in scoring on the night the rest of the bench really struggled to get going. The main player who struggled was Austin Rivers who shot 1-8 from the field, and Luke Babbitt who shot 0-6 fg and 0-5 from deep. Both really struggled like they did in their victory over the Miami Heat. A huge concern for the Pelicans happened in the second quarter when Anthony Davis went down in pain after getting hit in the face by Jeff Teague, who were both hustling for the ball. Anthony Davis was taken off the court but returned to the game later relieving Pelicans fans of the potential of another injury to their roster.
The Pelicans shot an abysmal 36 percent from the field and 37 percent from downtown, whilst the Hawks shot 42 percent from both areas. The Pelicans offense looked very poor with plays often breaking down and players settling into isolation or a poor shot at the end of the play. Whilst the Hawks offense looked better than the Pelicans, they also too struggled at times to get good shots off. These are things you expect to see from pre-season games, and that is one of the reasons (besides match fitness) that they are played.
The New Orleans Pelicans next face the Washington Wizards on Wednesday the 8th, while the Atlanta Hawks will match-up against the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday the 11th of October.