Hield out duels Simmons, leads No. 1 Sooners past Tigers

BATON ROUGE – The LSU Tigers blew a 14-point second half lead and lost to the No. 1-ranked Oklahoma Sooners, 77-75 at the Maravich Assembly Center.

Oklahoma’s Isaiah Cousins knocked down the game-winner with 3.8 seconds to play to help the Sooners avoid the upset.

The much anticipated matchup between Player of the Year candidates Ben Simmons and Buddy Hield was won by the Sooner scoring machine.  Hield finished with a game high 32 points; making eight three pointers, seven in the second half.

Simmons closed the game with 14 points and nine rebounds, but failed to score over the final 10 minutes.

The Tigers dropped their fifth consecutive game when facing the nation’s top-ranked team.

It was a roller coaster of emotions for both sides as the atmosphere in the P-MAC was electric from the outset.

Ben Simmons opened the scoring with a basket inside and LSU got out to a 7-3 lead in the game’s first two minutes.  The game would go back-and-forth with the Tigers taking a 14-10 advantage on Tim Quarterman’s three-pointer.

Jalyn Patterson would knock one down from long distance to extend the LSU lead to seven at the 13:08 mark.

LSU remained efficient offensively and aggressive defensively throughout the rest of the half.  Craig Victor and Antonio Blakeney scored back-to-back to give the Tigers a 23-15 lead with just over 10 minutes remaining in the first half.

Hield would get himself going with a pair of layups to bring the Sooners within two, but Quarterman hit another three-pointer to push the lead right back to five.

LSU got an 8-0 run with Crag Victor II hitting a jumper, followed by threes from Blakeney and Quarterman to put the Tigers up 36-23 at the five-minute mark.

But the Sooners would respond again with a 13-5 run to cut the deficit to five, before Aaron Epps hit a three from the top of the arc to send LSU into the locker room with a 44-36 lead at the half.

The Tigers shot 56 percent over the first 20 minutes, including 7-12 on three point attempts.  Tim Quarterman went 3-3 from long distance.  The Sooners were held to 41 percent shooting.

LSU roared out of the gate in the second half, building their lead to 14 with an 8-2 run over the first four minutes, accented by a Simmons drive and reverse dunk.

Hield knocked down his first three of the second half to immediately cut the lead to 11.  After Simmons scored on a jumper, Hield hit another three to get Oklahoma within 10.

Quarterman slowed the bleeding with his fourth three pointer of the game, but Oklahoma battled back off the ropes once again with a buckets by Cousins and Ryan Spangler to make it 57-49 with under 13 minutes to play in the game.

When Simmons tipped in a Patterson miss with 10:01 remaining, the Tigers were holding on to a 61-51 lead.

But Buddy Hield would not be denied.  He hit a three pointer to make it 61-54, then followed that with another three to make it 63-60 LSU with 7:18 to go.

With LSU up five Hield would do it again off of a Cousins feed to get Oklahoma within two, 65-63 at the 4:38 mark.

Seconds later Hield buried his sixth three pointer of the half to give the Sooners the lead, 66-65.  It was the first time Oklahoma had been ahead since leading 8-7 in the first half. The capacity crowd sat in stunned silence as the 14-point advantage had been completely erased.

Tim Quarterman knocked down his fifth three pointer of the game to put LSU back in front at 69-68 with just under three minutes remaining, giving the Tigers new life.

After an Isiah Cousins jumper put Oklahoma on top once again, Antonio Blakeney found his stroke to give LSU its final lead of the ball game, 72-70.

Hield’s eighth and final three-pointer of the game was followed by another Cousins jumper, putting Oklahoma up 75-72 with a minute to go.

The Sooners had a chance to ice the game at the line, but twice missed the front end of one-and-ones, allowing the Tigers one more chance to tie.

Tim Quarterman found Antonio Blakeney and the freshman took advantage with a three pointer, tying the score at 75 with 24 seconds to play.

With time running out Isaiah Cousins dribbled at the top of the key.  He took a screen from Hield and found enough room to pull up in the lane and hit what would prove to be the game winner.

Tim Quarterman would dribble the length of the floor but his last second lay-up attempt was blocked and no foul was called.

The loss drops LSU to 13-8 on the season, while the Sooners improve to 18-2.

The Tigers go on the road to face Auburn on Tuesday, Feb. 2 as they resume Southeastern Conference play.

Mora and Payton, more alike than you think

Sean Payton and Drew Brees have made magic during their time with the Saints, but the last two seasons have been anything but magical.

While it certainly was nice to hear Sean Payton declare his love for the New Orleans Saints, the city of New Orleans, and the Gulf Coast region during his press conference last week, it hasn’t changed the fact that the Saints are a franchise teetering.

After back-to-back 7-9 campaigns, the Saints have missed the playoffs in three of the last four seasons and have won just a single playoff game since Super Bowl XLIV.

For the third straight season the team made major changes to its coaching staff and spent money on free agents that didn’t pan out.  While the Saints have maintained one of the NFL’s most formidable passing attacks with Drew Brees leading the way, the team struggled to make big plays and to score against the league’s better defenses.

Right now, the New Orleans Saints are just another team.  One without its formerly dominant home field advantage (7-9 at the Superdome the last two seasons), a terrible defense (32nd in points allowed, 31st in yards against in 2015), and a distinct lack of playmakers.

I have no doubt that Payton enjoys being in New Orleans and that there is a definite connection between the fans and their coach.  I also have no doubt that Payton looked around the league and just didn’t see a situation that was any better than the one he has with the Saints.

He’s already won the public relations battle.  Payton has been coated in Teflon for quite some time.  No matter the failures of his defense, the running game, or in the draft, there has been no shortage of people ready to stand up for and stand behind the coach.

You can make a case to keep or fire just about two thirds of the coaches in the league from year to year and I’m not going to say that the Saints should have fired Sean Payton.  I think that they could have and would have been completely justified.

While there can be no argument that Payton is the most successful coach in franchise history, he’s still a win away from passing Jim Mora as the winningest coach.  There are a number of similarities between Mora’s 10-plus seasons in New Orleans and the Sean Payton era.

Nearly 20 years after he resigned as head coach, Jim Mora remains tied for the most wins in Saints franchise history (93).

Both coaches took over last place teams.  The Saints were 5-11 before Mora was hired in 1986, 3-13 when Payton took over before the 2006 season.  Mora took his teams to the playoffs four times, Payton has been to the postseason five times. Coach Mora posted five winning seasons and a pair of 8-8 campaigns during his tenure while Payton also has five winning seasons.

Both coaches drafted extremely well at the start of their regimes.  Mora picked up the core of his teams in his first four drafts, selecting the likes of Jim Dombrowski, Dalton Hilliard, Rueben Mayes, Pat Swilling, Gene Atkins, Toi Cook, Wayne Martin and Robert Massey during those early years.  Payton’s first four draft classes included many major contributors to that Super Bowl championship. Reggie Bush, Roman Harper, Jahri Evans, Zach Strief, and Marques Colston represented maybe the greatest class in Saints history in 2006.  They were followed by Robert Meachem, Usama Young, and Jermon Bushrod in ’07, Tracy Porter in ’08, and Malcolm Jenkins and Thomas Morestead in 2009.

They also hit it big in free agency early, with Mora bringing in Bobby Hebert, Sam Mills, Vaughan Johnson and others from the newly defunct USFL and Payton signing Drew Brees, Jonathan Vilma, and Darren Sharper.

Unfortunately, the similarities extend to some negative trends as well.

Mora misfired miserably in the draft during the latter half of his tenure with picks like Wesley Carroll, Irv Smith, Vaughn Dunbar, and Mario Bates.  He failed to find players to replace his aging defensive stars and struggled to identify difference makers to help improve the team’s offense.  While Payton was able to bring in players like Jimmy Graham  and Cam Jordan, most of the team’s top picks have failed to pan out.  Graham was traded to Seattle last offseason, leaving the Saints with just two Pro Bowlers drafted by the team since 2010 (Jordan, 2013 and Ingram, 2014).

Payton, like Mora, has struggled to get control of the “other” side of the ball.  Over the past decade the Saints have been one of the most productive offenses in league history. Drew Brees has topped 5,000 yards passing four times and has thrown for at least 4,000 yards in each season he has worn the black and gold.  The Saints have never ranked less than 12th in the league in points scored under Payton and never lower than sixth in total yards.  However, the Saints’ defenses have ranged from mediocre to historically terrible during that same time.  New Orleans has finished in the top half of the league in points allowed only four times in the past ten seasons.    They have finished 20th or worse six times, and 25th or worse five times.  That’s been under the leadership of five different defensive coordinators (Gary Gibbs, Gregg Williams, Steve Spagnoulo, Rob Ryan, and Dennis Allen). Even the Saints Super Bowl team was more opportunistic than good.  The 2009 unit ranked 20th in points allowed and 25th in total yards.  Those defensive struggles have been the primary reason that the Saints have been competitive, but not elite.

The “Bless You Boys” of the late 1980’s/early 1990’s went through a similar type of struggle, only it was the offense that couldn’t get it together.  Though Mora had stability at the offensive coordinator position, Carl Smith was every Saints fan’s favorite whipping boy; a symbol of the team’s inability to score when it needed to most.  While the Dome Patrol established itself as one of the great defenses of its era, the New Orleans offense was never more than a middle of the pack unit that got exposed against elite defenses.  Especially in the playoffs.  In four postseason trips under Mora the Saints averaged 14 points per game.

Mora made his last postseason appearance in year seven.  That 12-4 season was followed by seasons of 8-8, 7-9, 7-9, and 2-6 (Mora famously resigned after this epic rant).

Payton hasn’t been back to the playoffs since his seventh season (he was suspended for the entire 2012 season).  That 11-5 campaign has been followed by two straight 7-9 years.

History says it will be difficult, if not impossible for Sean Payton to lead the Saints back to the Super Bowl.  Of coaches who have won more than one Lombardi Trophy only Bill Belichick  and Tom Landry went more than five years between championships; and both of them made at least one appearance in the Super Bowl in the meantime.  In fact, the average number of years between first championship and last championship for the 13 head coaches who’ve won more than one Super Bowl is 4.9 years.  Next month marks six years since “Lombardi Gras” took over the Crescent City.

The question now becomes the way Payton’s final act in New Orleans plays itself out.  Because press conference or no press conference, Sean Payton has fewer years in New Orleans ahead of him than he does behind him.  Saints fans will just have to hope that Payton has it in him to make history one more time.

 

With Davis ailing, Pelicans can’t keep pace with Indiana and lose 91-86

NEW ORLEANS – It was “Superhero Night” at the Smoothie King Center, but tonight the New Orleans Pelicans were forced to play most of their contest against the Indiana Pacers without their Superman, Anthony Davis.

Without Davis on the court New Orleans fell to the Pacers 91-86.  New Orleans (11-24) lost for the fourth time in their last five games.

Indiana was leading 7-4 when Davis went chasing after a loose ball and dove into the first row of seats.  He left the game with a bruised tailbone and did not return.

The rest of the Pelicans responded by playing one of their best quarters of the season.  New Orleans outscored Indiana 26-9 over the next 8:39 on their way to building a 30-16 advantage after the first quarter.  The Pelicans shot 55 percent from the floor and held the Pacers to just 6 of 21 shooting.  Ryan Anderson came off the bench to score 11 of his 21 points in the quarter.

But these Pelicans have proven time and time again that prosperity is their Kryptonite, following up their outstanding play in the first quarter with a horrendous second quarter.  New Orleans was outscored 16-6 over the first 8 minutes of the second as Indiana repeatedly worked its way inside for layups.  Indiana finished the quarter outscoring the Pelicans 23-16 and cutting the lead to 43-38 at the break.

New Orleans shot 26 percent in the quarter and the Pels were outrebounded 15-7.

It would take the Pacers just over two minutes to erase what was left of the Pelicans’ lead as they started the third quarter with a quick 7-1 run to go up 45-44.  Tyreke Evans would do his best to save the day, single-handedly bringing New Orleans back.

Evans would score 16 of the Pelicans’ 27 points in the quarter, but Indiana would put together its best offensive stretch of the game.  The Pacers made 13-of-22 shots, scoring 30 points in the quarter.  Ian Mahinmi had seven of his team-high 17 points to lead Indiana.  New Orleans would enter the fourth quarter with a very shaky 70-68 lead.

In the comic books or in the movies, this would have been the time that the heroes would have rallied.  But this time there would be no moment when the will of the hero would surpass that of the villain.  This time, the bad guys won.

After a pair of Norris Cole free throws put New Orleans up by four, the Pacers would go on a 7-2 run, getting five points from George Hill and a lay-up by Jordan Hill.  Tyreke Evans would score his last basket of the night, a three-pointer with 9:29 remaining to give him a game-high 27, to put New Orleans back on top 77-75.  But a stretch of seven straight scoreless positions would doom the Pelicans.  Indiana would take the lead for good an a Mahinmi hook shot with 4:46 to play as the New Orleans would only make two baskets over the final 6:26. Dante Cunningham would lead the team with four points in the quarter.

The Pelicans had an opportunity to tie the ballgame after Alexis Ajinca stole the ball from Monta Ellis with :55 seconds remaining.  It was one of the Pelicans 21 steals on the night, a team record.  But Jrue Holiday’s three was way off the mark.  Indiana would turn the ball over again, and after working the ball around the perimeter it found its way into the hands of Eric Gordon.  Gordon pump faked, allowing Ellis to close out and block his three-point attempt.

Paul George would make a pair of free throws for the final margin.  The All-Star finished with just 13 points and seven rebounds.  George and Ellis would total 23 between them and combined to shoot just 8-for-24 from the field.  And the Pelicans still lost.

New Orleans finished the game shooting 37 percent with the Pacers climbing to 44 percent by game’s end.  The Pelicans lost the battle on the glass as well, as Indiana outrebounded New Orleans 54-37 including 14 offensive boards.

The Pelicans’ bench outscored Indiana’s 44-37, but the reserves were off target for most of the night. New Orleans’ second unit shot 15-for-45 (33 percent) with Norris Cole going 1-for-9.  The Pacers bench finished just under 50 percent (16-33).

It was another head-scratching effort by the Pelicans.  The loss of Davis was a lot to overcome, but I’m certain that if you told Alvin Gentry that his team would force 24 turnovers and that Paul George would have one of his worst games this season he would have expected a win.

It seems though that the Pelicans’ greatest superpower is their ability to disappear in critical moments.

Now they head out west for a three-game trip to face the Clippers, Lakers, and Kings.  New Orleans is 4-15 on the road.

The measure of heroes comes from what they do in times of discomfort.  After 35 games it is clear that the Pelicans are not super, but they can still fight.  They can fight for themselves and for their city.  New Orleans remains just four games out of the eighth playoff spot in the Western Conference; they still have a chance.  What they do with that chance is up to them.