Surprising Pelicans

I WAS of the belief there won’t be any series sweep in the National Basketball Association’s best-of-seven, first-round playoffs. Neither would there be any off-chart series results.

The New Orleans Pelicans have proved me wrong on both counts.

The sixth-seeded Pelicans upset the third-seeded Portland Trail Blazers and whitewashed them in four straight games in their West first-round matchup.

Tough luck for the boys from Rip City. Portland worked hard to beat Utah on the final day of the NBA regular wars to gain the Northwest Division title and secure the West’s No. 3 seed and the homecourt advantage against its first-round foe New Orleans.

However, the Blazers lost all their marbles in exactly a week’s time (April 14-21), quickly exiting out of the playoffs with a humiliating 4-0 loss at the hands of the Pelicans. Portland thus became the first No. 3 seed to lose in the first round since Denver dropped a 4-2 decision to Golden State during the 2013 playoffs.

Give New Orleans much credit for its series success against Portland. The Big Easy squad made it look easy after quickly grabbing homecourt advantage from the Trail Blazers with 97-95 and 111-102 triumphs at the Moda Center in the first two games as one-time championship playmaker Rajon Rondo dished out 17 assists in the opener and underpublicized guard Jrue Holiday racked up 33 points in the second game.

In the friendly confines of the Smoothie King Center, the Pelicans finished off their rivals with a 119-102 victory in Game Three behind a career playoff-high 30 points (12-for-15 field shooting, including 4-for-6 from beyond the arc) from midseason trade acquisition Nikola Mirotic and a 131-123 triumph in the series-clinching Game Four wherein the club’s meal ticket Anthony Davis (franchise playoff-record 47 points, 33 of them in the second half) and Holiday (a postseason career-best 41) combined for 88 points to equal the NBA record for most points ever scored by a duo in a single game in NBA playoff history (duplicating the feat of Boston’s John Havlicek and Jo Jo White in 1973) and join Cleveland’s LeBron James and Kyrie irving as the only pair of teammates to collect 40-plus points in the same playoff game in the past 18 years, and Rondo handed out 16 assists.

With their pace-and-space offense, the Pelicans shot .521 from the field (including .400 from three-point territory) during the four-game series, with starters Davis (.570), Holiday (.568) and Mirotic (.571) making more than half of their floor attempts.

The Pelicans’ coaching staff devised a suffocating defensive strategy that mesmerized the Blazers’ high-scoring backcourt duo of (particularly) Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum.

Expectedly, Davis showed why he is a viable NBA Most Valuable Player candidate as the do-everything 6-foot-10 frontliner was a dominant force during the four-game series, averaging 33 points, 12 rebounds, 2.75 blocks, 1.75 steals and 1.3 assists.

Still, what caught the attention of many observers was the scintillating performance of Holiday, the red-hot shooting of Mirotic, and the playoff resurgence of Rondo.

A nine-year vet out of UCLA, the 6-foot-4, 27-year-old Holiday registered averages of 27.8 points (a career high in just his fourth postseason stint), 6.5 assists, 4 boards and 1.25 steals against Portland aside from making life hard for Lillard and McCollum on the defensive end.

Holiday overcame various injuries and personal issues (in September 2016 that involved his brain tumor-stricken then-pregnant wife Lauren Cheney, a former U.S. women’s national soccer team midfielder who subsequently underwent successful brain surgery just weeks after giving birth to their first child) since being traded to New Orleans (then known as the Hornets) in July 2013 following a four-year stay in Philadelphia. He hit at a career-high 19-point clip in 81 appearances with the Pelicans during the 2017-18 regular wars.

Mirotic, whom the Pelicans acquired in last February 1 following the season-ending injury to 6-foot-11 All-Star center DeMarcus (Boogie) Cousins who a day earlier underwent surgery for a torn left Achilles, averaged 18.3 scores, 9.5 boards and 2.50 swats against Portland. The 6-foot-10, 27-year-old forward out of Montenegro shot 28-for-49 from the field, including 12-for-26 (.462) from three-point territory.

The starting point guard for the Boston Celtics during their 2008 NBA title finish, the 6-foot-1 Rondo produced double-double norms against Portland with 11.3 points and 13.3 assists along with 7.5 boards a game.

Davis (38.8), Holiday (37.5), Mirotic (37.3) and Rondo (35.3) averaged 35 minutes or more during the lopsided Portland series.

In posting the first playoff sweep (and only the second series victory) in the franchise’s 16-year history, New Orleans advanced to the second round for only the second time ever (the first was in 2008) when it faces the winner of the first-round series between the No. 2 seed and reigning NBA titlist Golden State Warriors and the No. 7 seed San Antonio Spurs, which was extended to a Game Five on Wednesday, April 25 (Manila time), following the grieving Spurs’ 103-90 home victory in Game Four wherein their head coach Gregg Popovich was sidelined for a second straight game following the death of his 67-year-old wife Erin a day before the series shifted to Alamo City for Game 3.

In addition to New Orleans’ clinching series win over Portland, there is one other off-chart series result (where the lower-seeded team owns a series lead) so far in the first-round playoffs.

In the West, No. 5 Utah is ahead of No. 4 Oklahoma City, 2-1, entering today’s Game Four on the Jazz’s home floor. Utah has taken the last two games wherein rookie Donovan Mitchell totaled 55 points to surpass Michael Jordan for the most points ever by a guard in his initial two postseason contests, including 28 in a 102-95 Game Two win in OKC that saw the Thunder surrender the home-court advantage. At home for Game Three, the Jazz won, 115-102, behind a triple-double by playmaker Ricky Rubio, a summer trade acquisition from Minnesota, who collected 26 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists for the Jazz’s first playoff T-D since Hall of Fame point guard John Stockton turned in the trick in 2001.

The Spanish-born Rubio is in his first postseason stint after six fruitless seasons with the Timberwolves.
In the other series, the teams with the higher seeds still hold the home-court advantage although the top three seeds in the East have been forced to a 2-2 deadlock in their respective matchups.

No. 1 Toronto and No. 8 Washington are tied at 2-all as home teams have won in all four games. The crucial fifth game will be held on Thursday (MT) at the Air Canada Centre.

No. 2 Boston and No. 7 Milwaukee are deadlocked at 2-all in another series that has seen the home team emerged triumphant in each contest. The important Game Five will be played at Boston’s TD Garden on Wednesday (MT).

No. 3 Philadelphia has taken a 3-1 advantage against No. 6 Miami and the 76ers look to finish off the Heat in their intense and physical duel when they host Game Five on Wednesday (MT). The Sixers, who concluded the regular wars with an NBA-record 16 consecutive wins entering their first playoffs since 2012, dropped Game Two at home but captured the third and fourth games in Miami that coincided with the return of their All-Star center Joel Embiid following a 10-game absence due to a broken orbital bone.

The 7-foot, Cameroon-born Embiid got 23 points and seven rebounds in Game Three and 14 points and 12 rebounds in Game Four. Do-everything Ben Simmons, the 76ers’ 6-foot-10 point guard and the leading contender for NBA Rookie of the Year honors out of Australia and Louisiana State University, chalked up a triple-double in Philly’s 106-102 win in Game Four with 17 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists for the first playoff T-D by a frosh since Earvin (Magic) Johnson in 1980.

No. 4 Cleveland and No. 5 Indiana are tied at two wins apiece following the reigning East champion Cavaliers’ 104-100 success in Game Four at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse behind LeBron James’ 32 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists. It was James’ 100th career playoff appearance with 30 or more points, second all-time to Michael Jordan. Cleveland, which lost the series opener at home and the third game on the road, will host Game Five on Thursday (MT).

West top seed Houston, which own home-court advantage throughout the postseason due to its league-leading 65-17 record during the regular campaign, is still ahead, 2-1, against No. 8 seed Minnesota, heading into today’s fourth game at the Timberwolves’ Target Center. The first three games of the series have gone to the home team.