New Orleans adding to a comeback story
The New Orleans Pelicans invade Oakland on Saturday night as a traveling comeback story. Between their head coach being on the hot seat a year ago, their shooting guard’s inability to stay on the floor, and the curious baggage associated with newcomers Rajon Rondo and Nikola Mirotic, some troubling issues are well in the past.
Add center Anthony Davis, steaming untamed into the future,
and you have a pretty intriguing matchup for the Warriors in Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinal.
Nobody’s happier to see New Orleans head coach Alvin Gentry than Steve Kerr. The two have been friends for years, and Gentry was on Kerr’s staff when the 2014-15 Warriors triggered a major shift in NBA philosophy. It only seemed natural; Kerr was an executive in Phoenix when Gentry coached the 2009-10 Suns into the Western Conference finals (losing to the Lakers)
with a relentlessly up-tempo offense led by Steve Nash.
That’s how Gentry thinks; it’s always been his way. But last summer, when the acquisition of DeMarcus Cousins failed to steer the Pelicans into the playoffs, Gentry was on the verge of being fired. The fans were on his case, and management wasn’t too thrilled, either.
Who can win in today’s NBA with a Twin Towers combination at the center position? Gentry gave it a shot, and it was working, until Cousins suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon in late January and was lost for the season. It was a jarring blow — and a hidden blessing for Gentry. Without Cousins, Davis became the center, no longer miscast as a power forward, forced to guard people around the perimeter. Within weeks, New Orleans had one of the most feared fast-breaking teams in the league. And Gentry was at peace — especially when the Pelicans decided to pick up his option for next season.
“We’ve been able to create space, posing a lot of matchup problems for the other team,” Gentry said the other day, “and it puts A.D. in a situation where he’s in space and the double-teams can’t come quite as quick. It also gives us an opportunity to space the floor for shooters. We became much more of a stretch team.”
One of those shooters is Mirotic, acquired from Chicago in a February trade that seemed baffling at first. During one of the Bulls’ mid-October practices, angry words turned into a fight between Mirotic and Bobby Portis, who threw a punch that left Mirotic hospitalized with two facial fractures and a concussion.
“Wait a minute,” the Pelicans’ fans thought. “We gave up three players (including tough-minded defender Tony Allen) and a first-round pick for this guy?”
Out of the darkness and into the light, Mirotic thrived after the change of scene. He’s the complete package — outside shooter, defender, active in steals and blocked shots — and with his extended range, he’s a potentially nightmarish matchup for the Warriors, particularly if he lures Draymond Green away from the interior.
A little superstition hasn’t hurt, either. Early this month, upset with the rhythm of his shot, Mirotic decided to get rid of his formidable beard — and the Pelicans are 9-0 since then. “We were shocked,” teammate DeAndre Liggins said. “He looked like a shaved bird.”
Mirotic averaged 18.3 points and 9.5 rebounds in the Pelicans’ four-game sweep of Portland in the first round, but the bigger story was Jrue Holiday’s pure validation as one of the league’s top five two-way players. Holiday shot 47 percent in the series, had 41 points in Game 4, and shackled elite guards Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum with his tenacity and strength (few NBA guards are more powerful) on defense.
It’s all a tremendous relief for Holiday, who played 81 games this regular season after a four-year stretch in which he consistently missed extended time: surgery for a stress fracture in his right tibia, some recurring problems in that area, a cracked orbital bone, and a harrowing saga in October of 2016 in which his pregnant wife, Lauren, was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor (she delivered a healthy baby girl, underwent successful surgery, and has been recovering without complications).
“He’s overlooked a lot, but the world is finally seeing the real Jrue Holiday,” said Rondo, his backcourt partner. “He’s still smooth Jrue, but when he has the mentality of attacking, when no one can stay in front of him and he can score against anyone, that’s when we’re at our best.”
The Pelicans are getting the very best version, meanwhile, of Rondo — the man who became the leader of the Celtics’ 2008 championship team featuring Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. Thanks to Rondo’s point-guard brilliance and his acute awareness of every on-court nuance, “We didn’t really need a coach,” Pierce said on ESPN, only partly in jest regarding Doc Rivers. “Rajon made us go, and he always seemed to know what the other team was about to do.”
Rajon also might be the most headstrong player in the league. He eventually had to leave Boston after clashing with Rivers and teammates. He had a tempestuous stint in Chicago last year after a wasted season in Sacramento. And in April 2015, the Dallas Mavericks became so exasperated with Rondo, the team reportedly made up an injury so it wouldn’t have to deal with his contrarian ways in a firstround playoff series against Houston. Rondo was benched after Game 2, didn’t appear in the series again, and according to ESPN, the players opted not to give him a playoff share.
The Pelicans knew who they were getting when they signed him to a one-year deal — and they’re happy to have Playoff Rondo, one of the most creative and intelligent passers in modern NBA history. “I just brought him and said, ‘OK, this is the deal. I love you as a player. I think you’re a great leader. I’m going to give you the opportunity to do that,’ ” Gentry said. “This is a guy who truly studies the game. Among really smart players, I put him up there with (Stephen) Curry, Nash, Chris Paul and Grant Hill among the guys I’ve coached. He’s like a coach on the floor, and I let him think that way. If I call a play and he calls a different play, his play will always succeed.”