The NBA preseason games continued as the New Orleans Pelicans defeated the Chicago Bulls by the score of 108-95. Anthony Davis scored a team-high of 37 points which helped the Pelicans got a 13-point victory over the Chicago Bulls. Next to Davis, DeMarcus Cousins scored 22 points during the preseason game. This is the first victory of the Pelicans since the NBA preseason started. Robin Lopez, Justin Holiday and Nikola Mirotic of Chicago Bulls all scored in double figures, but it was not enough to overcome the Pelicans.
Davis and Cousins scored a total of 59 points
Anthony Davis scored the highest points last Sunday with 37 points (7-19 FG, 1-1 3Pt, 22-23 FT), 15 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and 1 block. Although Davis just came back from his injury, the 24-year old player looked very healthy in his last game, contributing 34 minutes of floor time. In addition, Davis shot 50 percent from the field making seven of his 14 shot attempts.
DeMarcus Cousins, on the other hand, contributed 22 points, 9 rebounds, 9 assists and 2 blocks. The 29-year old player contributed a total of 36 minutes floor time on Sunday. The Pelican’s duo, Davis, and Cousins overwhelmed the Chicago’s frontcourt with their combined score of 59 points, 12 assists, and 24 boards.
Robin Lopez had a hard time playing against Davis and Cousins
Robin Lopez played a decent game in Sunday’s loss to the Pelicans. Lopez scored 13 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, and 1 block. Although his points weren’t bad,
While his own numbers weren't bad, Lopez was fairly helpless under his own basket trying to fight against Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins, both of whom had huge games.
Lopez now enters his 9th season in the NBA league. Since his debut, he averaged 10.4 points, 1.4 blocks, .2 steals, 1 assists, and 6.4 rebounds per game. In June 2016, Lopez was traded along with Jose Calderon and Jerian Grant to the Chicago Bulls in exchange for Justin Holiday and Derrick Rose.
Dante Cunningham struggled with his shot
Dante Cunningham made his debut in the preseason game against the Bulls. However, the 30-year old player had a hard time finding the basket last night. Cunnigham only contributed two points, one rebound, and two assists throughout the game. Cunningham signed a one-year contract extension with the Pelicans last summer for a $2.3 million deal. Cunningham posted 6.6 points and 4.2 rebounds in 25.0 minutes per game last season with the Pelicans and expected to perform the same workload this coming 2017-18 NBA season.
