Plumlee Has Career Night Against Pelicans

By Nick Ziegler (@Ziggy26x)

February 9^th, 2014

New Orleans Pelicans vs Brooklyn Nets Post Game Recap

Final Score: Pelicans 81 Nets 93

The Brooklyn Nets behind a great first half were able to knock off the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday evening. The victory over the Pelicans moves the Nets to (23-26) on the season, which put them just 2.5 games behind the Toronto Raptors in the Atlantic Division.

Player of the Game: Mason Plumlee

sportspyder.com

Rookie Mason Plumlee had his best game as a pro on Sunday night, as the young big man brought a lot of energy for the Nets off the bench. Plumlee had a career-high 22 points on eight for 10 shooting, while doing a pretty good job getting to the free throw line nine times, where he hit six free throws. In addition to the career-high scoring night, Plumlee tied his season-best 13 rebounds too. Plumlee was the recipient to Jason Terry's 5,000^th career assists on an alley oop. Plumlee was also a factor on the defensive end, as he recorded two blocks, one being a ferocious swat off a Jeff Withy shot, and also had three steals to round out the best game of his career thus far.

Positives:

Plumlee wasn’t alone having a great game off the bench, as Mirza Teletovic had a great game as well. Teletovic was able to record a double-double despite struggling from three-point land, where he went just one from eight. He finished with 13 points on four for 12 shooting, and grabbed 11 rebounds. Alan Anderson also scored very well off the bench, as he added 13 points on five for nine shooting. The Nets bench finished with 59 points combined, easily outscoring their starters.

What gave the Nets such a huge lead going into halftime, was their excellent defense against the Pelicans. A 14-point first quarter was followed up by a 14-point second quarter for the Pelicans, who entered the locker room trailing 51-28. amazingly for the first time in Nets history they won a game with no starter scoring in double-digits, which shows how great the defense was, and how well the bench played on Sunday night.

Negatives:

The third quarter was a scary one for the Nets, as they started it with a 23-point lead that they quickly saw vanish. The Pelicans were able to cut the huge deficit down to a manageable 11-point game heading into the fourth, and if it wasn’t for the Nets bench getting into the game, it may have been a single-digit game heading into the fourth. The fourth quarter the Nets were able to play much better defense after allowing more points in the third quarter than they did in the entire first half, and held on to a 12-point victory.

The best player on the court by far for New Orleans was last years number one overall pick Anthony Davis, who had a great game despite the rest of his team playing so poorly. Davis finished with a game-high 24 points on 11 for 19 shooting, with nine rebounds, three steals, two assists, and one block. If Eric Gordon was ever able to provide some help for Davis this could have been a much different game for the Pelicans.

Next up for the Nets will be a few days off before playing the Charlotte Bobcats on Wednesday in Brooklyn.