According to an old Hawaiian proverb, you can’t dance to the music if you don’t pay the band—and judging by the way the Portland Trail Blazers called the tune against the New Orleans Pelicans in NBA action tonight, my ancient ancestors may have been on to something. Playing without injured bandmaster Zion Williamson, the Pelicans ended up on the wrong end of a 125-117 final score. Shaedon Sharpe led the scoring for the visitors with 35 points. New Orleans countered with 26 points from off the bench from Derik Queen, but that turned out to be a few songs short of a show.
Shaedon Sharpe and Deni Avdija double-barreled the Pelicans tonight, combining for 67 points on 25 of 36 shooting and taking turns on scoring down the stretch. The Pelicans did not lack for effort and made the finish a shaky one for the Blazers, but the Dangerous Duo were too much to overcome in this one.
For a team that reportedly can’t shoot, the Blazers burned the nets tonight. They shot 52.8% from the field (48 of 83), 35.1% from 3-point land (13 of 37) and 94.1% from the free-throw line (16 of 17).
It looked for a while like Pelicans reserve Yves Missi might have made the play of the game by collaborating on a double ejection with Portland’s Jerami Grant after a tussle with 6:34 left in the second quarter. This put a lid on the leading bench scorer in the league so far this season–Grant left the game with only 2 points on the board–but the Blazers torched that advantage with a 38-point third quarter.
The Blazers roll on to Houston to wrangle with the Rockets Friday, November 14, at 5:00 p.m. Pacific.
