The New Orleans Pelicans have an exciting young core built around Jrue Holiday, which could present some problems for the Detroit Pistons in 2019-20.
Jrue Holiday proved that he can be the go-to option with the New Orleans Pelicans and now he has a plethora of weapons surrounding him.
With Anthony Davis out for most of the season, Holiday became the leader in the locker room and on the floor. New general manager David Griffin is all-in on Holiday being his centerpiece, too.
It was Holiday who dominated in last year’s two-game series with the Detroit Pistons, in which Davis was inactive for both games. Holiday’s play was remarkable in the series split.
Both teams won their respective road games, and the Pistons did so with a rare no-go from Andre Drummond, who was inactive for three games all last season.
Holiday scored 37 points on 14-of-22 shooting in a 116-108 win in Detroit, which would have been larger if not for 18 turnovers. The Pelicans were incredibly efficient with a shooting slash of .532/.400/.870.
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Blake Griffin was dominant with 35 points on 25 shots. Andre Drummond had another double-double with 23 points and 19 rebounds, but it took him 23 shots. Langston Galloway had a nice performance with 24 points but the Pistons couldn’t get enough help, shooting 43.9 percent from the field for the game. Griffin and Galloway were a combined 8-for-19 from 3-point range with the rest of the team going 1-for-10.
Griffin scored 37 points on 28 shots, grabbed nine rebounds and dished seven assists in a 98-94 win in New Orleans without Drummond. Detroit got nice contributions from Jon Leuer and Zaza Pachulia in Drummond’s absence, combining for 19 points and 16 rebounds on 8-of-12 shooting. Reggie Jackson scored 17 points.
Proving to be a thorn in Detroit’s side, Holiday scored 29 points and received help from Jahlil Okafor, who scored 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. The Pistons defended much better and only allowed a 4-for-9 clip from the free throw line.
But both rosters have changed, with the Pelicans looking completely different. Let’s look into their changes.