No shame in losing to Steph’s rampant Warriors for the Clippers in their previous match. This one you would expect them to come out smiling, playing somewhat “inferior” New Orleans. However the Pelicans have won two out of the last three including a win and loss against Utah. Pelicans had one of their best scoring first quarters here. The Clippers matching them at the start of it, field goal attempts galore. This three pointer from, Reggie Jackson under shot clock pressure was an eye catcher , 10-8 Pelicans. That’s what the shot clock was invented for, otherwise dull matches would be the order of the day. The hero against Utah, Ingram got in on the act too, this one from down town was ball retention at its best. Check out 11-10 Clippers. Pelicans were awesome shooting from the field at 51% that in itself tells you who won this game.

Second quarter both teams went toe to toe with some impressive shooting from down town. Since they were almost evens from outside the arch, Jonas Valanciunas proved to be the difference. The big Lithuanian imposed himself on the paint and on the field. Watch this play at 46-35 New Orleans. He has an unusual way of shooting. He doesn’t jump as high to get the elevation, probably confident he can get past the rim because of his height. No arch on the ball, just a straight arrow to the basket. Seven straight 3 pointers in this quarter as the Pelicans pulled away. He would finish with a huge 39 points. Paul George made the scored close with his long range shooting. Watch 60-41 Pelicans. Not only was Jonas huge from the field, but defensive wise his 15 rebounds were colossal. Watch 71-55 Pelicans as he made two Clippers Reggie and Paul look like lightweights. Clippers cut the lead in this quarter. Eric Bledsoe was positive driving to the basket for LA, pulling fouls too. Watch 80-64 Pelicans.

It was a 12 point game going into Q4 and what was important for the Clippers was to get as much steals and rebounds as possible. They only got 2 steals and 14 offensive rebounds for the whole match which tells the story. A damning stat for LA was their shooting attempts in that final quarter which was the lowest in the match. They never brought the Pelicans lead to single digits. Watch the nothing pass from Bledsoe at 105-92 to Jonas , suicidal and uncalled for at that point of the match. Keeping the score respectable is also part of pro ball, Clippers didn’t do that. Pelicans improve record in the Western Conference to 6-17 whilst Clippers are 11-10.

Western Conference

TEAM	W	L	WIN%	GB	CONF	DIV	HOME	ROAD	OT	LAST 10	STREAK
1Golden State Warriors	18	2	.900	—	10-1	4-0	11-1	7-1	0-1	9-1	W 7
2Phoenix Suns	17	3	.850	1	12-3	2-1	8-2	9-1	0-0	10-0	W 16
3Utah Jazz	14	7	.667	4.5	9-2	4-0	8-4	6-3	0-0	6-4	W 2
4Dallas Mavericks	10	9	.526	7.5	8-4	5-0	6-3	4-6	1-0	4-6	L 2
5LA Clippers	11	10	.524	7.5	8-8	0-2	9-6	2-4	0-1	4-6	L 2
6Minnesota Timberwolves	11	10	.524	7.5	7-8	0-1	7-6	4-4	1-1	7-3	W 2
7Los Angeles Lakers	11	11	.500	8	5-7	0-3	8-6	3-5	4-1	4-6	W 1
8Memphis Grizzlies	10	10	.500	8	9-5	1-1	7-5	3-5	2-0	4-6	W 1
9Denver Nuggets	10	10	.500	8	6-6	2-2	7-4	3-6	0-0	4-6	W 1
10Portland Trail Blazers	10	11	.476	8.5	6-8	1-2	9-1	1-10	0-0	5-5	L 3
11Sacramento Kings	8	13	.381	10.5	6-10	2-2	3-7	5-6	1-0	3-7	L 1
12San Antonio Spurs	6	13	.316	11.5	1-10	0-3	4-6	2-7	0-1	3-7	W 2
13Oklahoma City Thunder	6	14	.300	12	6-7	0-2	4-6	2-8	0-0	2-8	L 6
14New Orleans Pelicans	6	17	.261	13.5	5-9	1-1	3-7	3-10	0-0	5-5	W 1
15Houston Rockets	4	16	.200	14	2-12	0-2	4-5	0-11	1-0	3-7	W 3