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NBA New Orleans Pelicans

New Orleans Pelicans Are Back On Track After Beating Utah Jazz

By @KellanMiller

New Orleans Pelicans V.S. Utah Jazz

Chris Nicoll- USA TODAY Sports

The beauty of professional sports (besides the cheerleaders) is that the unexpected is often times expected. But from a fan’s perspective, losses can have a maddening effect on one’s outlook on life in a general, existential sense. When the New Orleans Pelicans suffered a 117-97 loss at home against the Denver Nuggets on Friday, I couldn’t help but feel depressed.

While others spent their Saturdays doing fun stuff like normal people, I was curled up in bed, running through viewings of Requiem For A Dream and Sophie’s Choice as I contemplated the injustices of the world. It was that real. After enough silent sobs and pessimism, I eventually came to my senses, and the bulk in this overhaul had to do with the Pelicans 106-94 victory against the Utah Jazz on Saturday. For the moment, I am floating high on a cloud of euphoria. Time to pop in Superbad in the DVD player.

The Jazz aren’t the greatest team in the NBA by a comfortable margin, but it’s good to know that the Pelicans aren’t suffering some sort of early meltdown. The Nuggets are a solid team, but like I mentioned in my previous article, the Pelicans have no business losing to them, even if Kenneth Faried temporarily transformed into Kevin Durant and starting draining threes from outside. But that’s in the past now.

As I predicted, Anthony Davis was simply incredible in Saturday’s victory. After having a mediocre game on Friday by his standards, Davis responded with more fire than usual. He finished with 43 points, 14 points two steals and one block. This goes without saying, but monumental numbers like those are insane.  On a side note, Davis may not have logged into Netflix and sift through the most depressing movies he can find to deal with his frustration, but he has more than proven that he is the type of player that takes losing personally like many legends in the game before him. In summary, Davis is the kind of guy you want on your team.

Jrue Holiday stepped it up as well compared to his lackluster performance in Denver. He ended with 19 points and nine assists. I don’t want to keep harping on this, but Holiday’s name should definitely be in consideration for the 2015 All-Star game, at least as a reserve. He has finally landed in a situation where his strengths can be utilized.

Obviously, Davis was doing much of the work, so the stat line for the rest of the team was pretty dismal aside from reserve center, Alexis Ajinca. Starting in the place of the injured Omer Asik, who re-injured his lower back during warm-ups for the Denver game, Ajinca has been quietly effective. Ajinca didn’t put too many points on the board, but he did grab three rebounds in addition to an efficient 3-4 shooting night.

Because of the defense Asik provides, many players are seeing a decrease in production. Players like Ryan Anderson are more effective when they are shooting from beyond the arc, rather than attempting to post up other players. Suffering two losses in a row at the hands of the Portland Trailblazers and Denver Nuggets, Asik’s presence is surely missed. However, the Pelicans were able to get the job done on the road, which bodes well for future road trips.

You win some, you lose some. But when you win, you allow the future MVP to post 43 points and grab 14 rebounds. Hopefully Asik will return soon, so that The Pelicans can give teams a full taste of what they are built of.

Kellan Miller is a writer for RantSports. Follow him on Twitter @KellanMiller, “like” him on Facebook, or add him on Google Plus.

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