Pelicans steal a road win from Portland in Game 1: 3 takeaways

The final game of the first day of the 2018 NBA Playoffs started with cold and came down to the wire as the Pelicans stole one on the road.

Game 1 of what is likely to be one of the most highly-contested series of the 2018 NBA Playoffs did not get off to a hot start. Both the Portland Trail Blazers and New Orleans Pelicans could not get anything to fall as they combined to shot an abysmal 17.6 percent on 3-pointers in the first quarter.

For Portland, the struggles continued throughout the first half as their star backcourt combo of Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum scored a total of five points in the first half. Meanwhile, the Pelicans duo of Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday poured in 32 points (17 for Davis and 15 for Holiday) to help lead the Pelicans to a nine-point halftime advantage.

Any time the Trail Blazers looked to show any signs of life, Nikola Mirotic would splash in a 3-pointer, or Jrue Holiday would knife his way to the hoop, or Ian Clark or E’Tawun Moore would hit a tough shot, or Anthony Davis would do Anthony Davis things to help distance New Orleans.

Playoff Rajon Rondo (17 assists in 39 minutes) was in full effect, picking up where he left off from a year ago when he led the Chicago Bulls to a surprising 2-0 lead against the then top-seeded Boston Celtics.

The ancillary players for Portland did what they could to keep their team within reach. Yet, without the normal production from their star players the Trail Blazers ultimately succumbed to New Orleans and lost home court advantage out of the gate.

Here are three takeaways on how New Orleans stole Game 1 on the road.

Takeaways

Portland needs to find an answer for Nikola Mirotic. Once it was known that the Portland Trail Blazers would face the Pelicans to begin the playoffs, a lot of the talk was about how the Trail Blazers would matchup against Anthony Davis. Since DeMarcus Cousins was lost for the year with an Achilles injury, Davis has gone into, in his own words, “Russell Westbrook mentality.” That mentality and keeping the Pelicans in the playoff race garnered him MVP consideration.

In Game 1, though, Portland did what it could against Davis, and it was the sharpshooting of Nikola Mirotic that really burned them. Brought in at the deadline to help space the floor with Davis being bumped to center, Mirotic had recently found his stroke — and his five o’clock shadow — towards the end of the regular season. He had yet to cool off by the time Game 1 tipped off. Mirotic finished the night with four 3-pointers made. It wasn’t just his outside shooting that helped pace New Orleans. The naturalized Spanish citizen was a handful on the glass too, raking in 11 rebounds on the night. Portland tried a few different players on Mirotic (Al-Faroq Aminu, Zach Collins and Ed Davis), but they need to find someone they can rely on to corral him going forward.

Mirotic and the rest of the supporting class around Davis has really cemented themselves as valuable pieces. The Pelicans are going to continue to throw everything they have at the Blazers and with Mirotic having such a big impact to begin the series, don’t be surprised if New Orleans continues to try and keep him involved.

A tale of Jrue halves. Lost in the spectacular second half to the season that Anthony Davis had is the performance that Jrue Holiday has put together. Not only has he morphed into a quality number two option next to Davis, but he has a case for All-Defense selection as well. Along with Rondo, Holiday hounded Lillard and McCollum all night long defensively. If they can continue to make life difficult for that tandem then the Pelicans could be on course for a trip to the second round. As mentioned above, Holiday also helped out by adding 15 first half points to help New Orleans jump ahead. For the game, he would finish with 21 points.

However, even though his intensity and effort never wavered, it was only a matter of time before one of Lillard and McCollum got it going for Portland. As “Dame Time” approached Holiday was often tasked with handling him, but it was McCollum that exploded with the second half for 16 points. But in the closing moments of the game it was Holiday making the plays that New Orleans needed: a steal on a McCollum transition opportunity when the Blazers were down by only two and a game-clinching block at the rim on Pat Connaughton. Holiday is going to have to be as solid as he was on both ends for the remainder of the series if the Pelicans want to continue to give the Blazers all that they can handle.

Next: Sixers second-half surge seals win: 3 takeaways

Blazers bench did its job. All eyes — and criticism — will rightfully fall upon Lillard and McCollum, but the main reason that Portland lost this game by only two points was the play of their bench. Only Caleb Swanigan and Jake Lyman received DNP-Coach’s Decision in the game. Collins and Davis were a steadying presence on the interior combining for 14 of the team’s 27 second unit points. The Blazers outscored the Pelicans’ bench by 12 points on the night.

It isn’t likely that Lillard and McCollum will shoot 26 (6-23) and 38 (7-18) percent respectively going forward. If those two are their normal selves as the series continues then having the extra boost from their bench production will be pivotal in determining which of these two teams moves on to the Western Conference Semifinals. One player in particular to keep track of — aside from the ascending rookie Collins — is Wade Baldwin IV. He supplanted Shabazz Napier as the first guard off the bench to begin the game, but finished the game with three minutes played compared to Napier’s 14. Losing Game 1 at home is never a good feeling, but the seeds have at least been planted on how to execute against New Orleans and it comes from the bench.