Quick Reaction: Pelicans 106, Raptors 108

This will largely go unnoticed, but, he was a big part of the defensive stand to start both halves. Per usual, he’s bang on with his rotations. Respectable contribution on the offensive end.

Worked really hard tonight on both ends of the floor and was propelled by an endless motor. Still, I wouldn’t be heartbroken to see his minutes reduced when DeMar comes back, as Norm has been playing off the charts and the minutes need to come from somewhere.

Should add: his defense in overtime was very good.

Outplayed Anthony Davids — so let that sink in.

Early on, he made it a point to get deep post position on AD and power his way down to the basket. He missed a couple of these looks early on, but the logic behind what he was doing was sound. The points eventually came, and he even got AD to bite (!) on his midrange pump before bulldozing him for a bucket at the rim.

His mid-range defense on AD also looked good.

Pick-n-roll-n-dunk #wethenorth pic.twitter.com/y3uKgwCM3Y

— Sam Holako (@rapsfan) February 1, 2017

I’m going to break this down into two segments.

Late fourth quarter / overtime: A+, clutch — and doing whatever it is that superstars do when their team needs them.

Before all that:

This was not your typical ‘take over and impose your will in the absence of DeRozan’ performance from Lowry. He wasn’t shooting great, and his defense just hasn’t looked as good as it should.

I’m an irrational person, though, and I choose to believe Lowry is coasting, and saving his elite defense for game 7 against Steph Curry.

First thing’s first:

Powell just did Anthony Davis dirty #poster #wethenorth pic.twitter.com/0eFRarMemO

— Sam Holako (@rapsfan) February 1, 2017

Now that we got the obvious out of the way, let’s talk about how much chaos he caused defenders with his dribble penetration. Loved the way he would cut inside and score with a diverse repertoire consisting of dunks, layins, and pull up jumpers.

It was his defense too, that stopped some of the bleeding from Jrue Holiday in the fourth. Most notable defensive sequence was how he played Holiday to end the fourth — preventing a buzzer beater.

Biggest criticism I have of Norm tonight: missed a couple easy layups that allowed the Pelicans to swing momentum the other way.

Uh, I’m unsure of where the real Cory Joseph is.

Not a good night from the field, and a team worst +/- -20

After a shaky start where he looked terrified of dealing with Anthony Davis (relative to how JV pushed him around just before he entered the game), Bebe grew into this one — rolling to the rim for put-backs and finishing lay-offs, protecting the rim, and even doing well defending the perimeter.

Provided very limited spot minutes in the first half but Casey had a short leash on him. He looked lost on at least one defensive sequence which I took note of, but he did have a couple field goals in 7 minutes.

I know that my entire Twitter feed was going delirious over the idea of Carroll closing out this game, but the alternative was going small with Joseph when CoJo was playing even worse. Besides, Carroll proved his defensive worth in overtime.

I am jealous of most NBA teams that have proper plays coming out of timeouts, which is an area I can consistently throw guilt-free shade to Casey for. De facto = Kyle Lowry >>>> Casey’s ATO plays.

Outside of that, I’m not sure how much you could blame coach for so many blown defensive assignments and lack of stopgaps on the perimeter in the 2nd quarter in particular.