Pelicans Pummeled By Spurs As Davis Sits Out With Injury
Riding a season long 5 game winning streak, the New Orleans Pelicans (32-41) hit a wall Saturday night, falling to the league-leading San Antonio Spurs 96-80.
Pelicans All-Star Anthony Davis sat out with an ankle injury, as the already short-handed Pelicans couldn't overcome a hot start by the Spurs. San Antonio (57-16) jumped out to an authoritative 21-6 lead, never looking back, cruising to an easy victory.
"Being shorthanded is not an excuse for me because I really felt like when you compete at a high level, you give yourself a chance," Pelicans coach Monty Williams said.
New Orleans never had a chance Saturday night.
Davis is listed as day-to-day. Point guard Brian Roberts returned from a knee injury, leading the Pelicans in scoring with 18 off the bench. Austin Rivers came off the pine as well, scoring 16 in 30 minutes.
"We didn't get off to a good start," explained Roberts. "When you have a team like the Spurs, a veteran team that executes so well, that's one thing you want to do, that's start off the game well."
From the start, it was the outmatched New Orleans' starting lineup (Tyreke Evans, Al-Farouq Aminu, Greg Stiemsma, Alexis Ajinca, Anthony Morrow) that really struggled, failing to slow down San Antonio's offensive ball movement, while not scoring many points in return. Collectively, they only scored 29 of the Pelicans 80 points.
Former New Orleans sharp shooter Marco Belinelli led the way for San Antonio, scoring 18 for the Spurs, including 4 three-pointers. Manu Ginobili and Kawhi Leonard each added 15.
New Orleans will look to bounce back Monday night as they host the Sacramento Kings (25-48). Tip-off from the Smoothie King Center is set for 7:00.