The New Orleans Pelicans improve to 1-1 in the Summer League after their 95-91 victory over the Charlotte Hornets.
The New Orleans Pelicans surged ahead in the fourth quarter to beat the Charlotte Hornets by a score of 95-91, ending this game on a 15-2 run. The Pelicans improve to 1-1 in the Summer League.
It wasn't an efficient offensive performance (43/31/79 shooting splits), but they got big shots when it matters and forced their will upon the Hornets in the second half. They outscored them 30-15 in the final frame in total.
A positive that God Shammgod and Jamahl Mosley will take out of this game is that the good stretches came from what they did on the defensive side of the ball. When the Pelicans were able to put stops together, it paid off on the offensive end.
New Orleans scored a whopping 31 points off turnover in this game. Their players had active hands and combined for 13 steals and four blocks.
That is the identity that Mosley wants his teams to have. He'd far rather have the best defense in the league and the worst offense than vice-versa.
It wasn't always pretty for New Orleans in this one, but they showed a lot of fight and made it more interesting than most of the Summer League games so far.
One of the biggest winners of Summer League so far for New Orleans has to be Malik Dia. Like his teammates, he didn't have the most efficient day, but Dia has shown everything that the Pelicans could have hoped to see out of him.
In this game, he put up six points and four rebounds, but the big thing is going 2-for-2 from three. Going back to that last game, he's shown the ability to be a three-level scorer while maintaining that defensive ability. The Pelicans were interested in him in the second round and should have seen enough to give him a two-way deal.
Hunter Dickinson hit a couple of huge threes, which is his biggest calling card as a big. If he wants to make it fully to the next level, he'll need to be able to space the floor. He finished with 21 points, three rebounds and three assists in this game.
