New Orleans Pelicans Prove Dominance In Win Over Orlando Magic

By kellanmiller @KellanMiller on October 29, 2014

Tuesday night, as the Houston Rockets completely demolished the Los Angeles Lakers, Reggie Miller prophesized that the 2015 genetic makeup of the Western Conference playoff picture would feature the same eight teams that made it last year. I respect Miller for his exceptional three-point shooting abilities and trash talk during his playing days, but he is completely wrong about this.

Despite an impressive showing by the Rockets last night (if beating the current Lakers squad is impressive), they are in trouble. Ditto for a lot of other hopeful teams in the West. The New Orleans Pelicans are on their road to their first playoff berth, and they proved as much last night in their dominant 101-84 win over the Orlando Magic in the season opener.

Questions around the Pelicans heading into the season revolved around how newly acquired pieces (Omer Asik, Jimmer Fredette, etc.) would mesh with the likes of Tyreke Evans and, most importantly, Anthony Davis. But the team looked like a well-oiled machine Tuesday night.

Asik is, for the first time in his career, with that a team that can properly utilize all of his talents, and he made his presence felt Tuesday night— setting picks for easy buckets, grabbing boards and getting good looks in the paint. He finished with 14 points, 17 rebounds and four assists. Fredette finished with a pretty bare stat-line, but he was aggressive in penetrating the Magic defense and setting up plays for his team to get easy looks.

Going forward, the imposing nature of this current Pelicans team is a varied arsenal – a sum of speedy, effective moving parts. While they are not at the San Antonio Spurs‘ level in this regard quite yet, Evans, Jrue Holiday, Eric Gordon and even the sometimes streaky Austin Rivers made their offensive presence felt, and opposing teams will have to adjust their game plans accordingly. Ryan Anderson finished with an incredible 22 points and nine rebounds. But of course the man of the hour was Davis. He is wasting no time on his quest to make the next great MVP speech and consequentially star in a bunch of 2k16 commercials. In 36 minutes, he racked up 26 points, 17 rebounds and nine blocks.

It’s early, but I expect hardcore Pelicans fans will have no choice but to welcome a bevy of new bandwagon fans as the season progresses. We will have more concrete knowledge once the Pelicans face tougher competition, but numbers don’t lie and it appears coach Monty Williams’ meticulously slaved over game-time strategy doesn’t either.

The Pelicans have a deep roster with a lot of players with the potential to get hot, and if injuries don’t get the best of them, it’s difficult to imagine a scenario where they don’t shake up the Western Conference.

Kellan Miller is a Writer for Rant Sports. Follow him on Twitter @KellanMiller, on Facebook, or Google Plus