Led by Anthony Davis and his huge night—35 points, seven rebounds and a pair of blocks—the New Orleans Pelicans beat up on the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves 114-99 Tuesday night.
Unfortunately for the Pels, they lost guard Eric Gordon to a fractured ring finger.
#Pelicans guard Eric Gordon has fractured ring finger on right hand; timetable TBD. Story: https://t.co/936woBHxD1 pic.twitter.com/jPSS6agBkO
— Jim Eichenhofer (@Jim_Eichenhofer) January 20, 2016
Head coach Alvin Gentry said prior to the game that his team is at a make-or-break point in their injury-riddled season.
Per the Times-Picayune:
New Orleans outscored the Minnesota 63-39 in the second half. Anthony Davis led the Pelicans with 35 points. […] It took a 31-15 scoring push in the third quarter for the Pelicans get back on track after playing poorly in the first half that had them trailing by a 17-point deficit in the first quarter when the Timberwolves shot 72 percent from the field.
The Pelicans (14-27) discovered how to defend and forced the Timberwolves (13-30) to make only 4-of-13 shots in the third quarter. From there, the Pelicans pushed to the finish line.
“In all honesty I just said to them: ‘Guys you know what? This is our season,'” Gentry said. ‘”This will determine if we want to be involved and have a chance to be talked about as a playoff team or we won’t and that’s what it comes down to. It’s that simple. […] There’s no speeches, there’s no adjustments, there’s no anything to be made except for us to go out and compete at the level we need to win a basketball game.’ That’s basically the speech I gave.”
