2 Studs and 1 dud in Trail Blazers' explosive 4th quarter win over Pelicans

The Portland Trail Blazers defeated the New Orleans Pelicans on the road, 118-100. They are now 3-5 on the season, with two of those wins over New Orleans. This wasn't your typical Pelicans team, as they had multiple key players out with injuries.

New Orleans had a starting lineup of Jose Alvarado, Brandon Boston Jr., Brandon Ingram, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, and Yves Missi. Despite being such a depleted team, it was an extremely close game for the first three quarters. At one point, the Pelicans were up by as many as 14 points.

By the end of the third, Portland was losing 79-82. But the Blazers ran away with it, and a significant reason was the play of Dalano Banton, who has now become the Blazers' fourth-quarter catalyst for two games in a row.

Stud No. 1: Dalano Banton

Banton only played in the fourth quarter. It would have been nice to see Chauncey Billups give him an earlier run, given his stellar play that almost led to the Blazers' comeback against the Phoenix Suns.

The good news is that those 12 minutes were all Banton needed to become the game's x-factor once again. He outscored the entire Pelicans team 20-18, along with two steals on 8-9 field-goal shooting and 2-3 from beyond the arc, leading to a +21 plus-minus.

Banton is an electrifying scorer and is making a solid case to remain in Portland's rotation consistently. Their bench primarily consists of defensive-minded players, and they could benefit from Banton giving them an offensive spark.

Dud No. 1: Scoot Henderson

It's still extremely early, but Scoot Henderson is starting to have another up-and-down season. He's frequently on these studs and duds list, as there's rarely an in-between or average game when he plays.

This time around, Scoot makes the dud list, finishing with just five points, five assists, and five turnovers in 25 minutes. It's essential that Henderson puts together more consistent stretches of games. He may have a shorter leash as the Blazers' backcourt situation becomes more competitive, given Banton's play in the past few games and Shaedon Sharpe's expected return from injury at some point this month.

Stud No. 2: Anfernee Simons

Anfernee Simons was the Blazers' leading scorer with 24 points and four assists on an efficient 10-17 shooting from the field (58.8 percent). His shot selection has been questionable at times so far this season. That's not entirely his fault, as he's one of the only players on the Blazers' roster who is a legitimate shot-creator, meaning he's often asked to do too much within the offense. But that wasn't the case in this game.

As a team, the Blazers shot 54.8 percent from the field, and the fact that everyone was getting and converting high-quality looks allowed the game to come to Simons rather than him having to force the issue. A large part of that may have been the fact that the Pelicans are both depleted and undersized, but credit to Simons for taking advantage.