Pelicans at Nuggets 11/17/17

[new city champ]

Same kind of story as last game against Raptors--allowed them to shoot 63% from the floor and better than 50% from 3-point-land. It's like every team we see lately decides this is the night they are going to shoot lights out. I know our defense is suspect, but c'mon these are numbers you'd struggle to get in an empty gym. Friggin Jamal Murray was 0-7 the night before and couldn't miss anything against us. It does, though, highlight just how poor our outside shooting has been . Holiday, our $125 million starting shooting guard is shooting like 20% from behind the arc and like 10%--no lie TEN PERCENT--in the last 10 games. We can't win if he continues to shoot like that. It puts too big a burden on DeMarcus and Anthony. Speaking of which, it's been a little bad Boogie here lately. His body language sucks and he's pouting and arguing with the refs constantly. He's got to man up. Hubie Brown was talking about how he had a good relationship with Malone while in Sac Town because Malone held him accountable. I hope the Pels staff isn't shy about doing the same because he has the option to leave. If he's going to leave because you get on his ****** for lack of hustle and poor defense then he should leave. Being a successful organization is about having standards no matter what. If he's allowed to slack, it infects the whole team. I hope that isn't happening already.

[DaFranchise80]

This team lacks focus on the defensive end. Something has to be done with this coaching staff. The body language of these players just look like they are going through the motions without a care in the world.

[new city champ]

CORRECTION: JRUE IS SHOOTING 11.4% FROM BEHIND THE ARC IN THE LAST 10 GAMES, NOT 10%. SORRY JRUE.

[Bricklayer]

If having a team drop 146 on you while their backcourt shoots 22-29 from the field doesn't snap you out of it/spark a team meeting, then you have no hope. Because those sorts of embarrassing results are the sorts of things that can get coaches fired.

[Impose]

We need to be better at giving up the open mid range shot instead of the wide open 3.

[stormcenter]

Keep on writing off games and you'll find yourself out of the playoff picture as quick as you can blink your eyes.

I'm not gonna jump off the deep end or anything. Denver's a playoff team, they played above themselves, we only had Davis for half the game.




Obviously there are also awful negatives: we played a lot of terrible defense, our ball movement stalled several times, Cunningham still hasn't decided if he wants to bother, and no shots were falling for us.

I'm ready to write this one off and just move on.

[AusPel]

CORRECTION: JRUE IS SHOOTING 11.4% FROM BEHIND THE ARC IN THE LAST 10 GAMES, NOT 10%. SORRY JRUE.

I was just about to correct you

[Buckwheat]

Playoffs?
Come guys really?
Let’s just get out the month of November with 10 wins how about that as a realistic goal.

[23speedkillz]

Gentry's post game interview was hilarious. He was literally shaking and about to cry. He said "we embarrassed our franchise, players and coaches".

[NugzFan]

between almost taking off Rondo's shoulder at the end of the half and now this...

screw Denver

You don't actually think either of those were intentional, do you?

[Rel11]

Gentry's post game interview was hilarious. He was literally shaking and about to cry. He said "we embarrassed our franchise, players and coaches".

Maybe he knows the end is near for him.

[Imnos 2]

This game made somethings very apparent. Things that have been true all season but just put it on national TV.

Missing Solo is huge.
Gentry is not the right coach for this group of players. The personnel is built to play more like traditional Spurs type teams not Golden State.
We need another big man
Our biggest problem is defense. If they commit to that side of the floor there would be few teams they couldnt beat

[HoustonPelicans]

Teams have been shooting lights out against us since the Orlando game. The memo is out guys, you can shoot 3s against the Pels. And teams are coming in fired up and confident to let them go

[hornetsrebirth]

This game made somethings very apparent. Things that have been true all season but just put it on national TV.

Missing Solo is huge.

.......

Our biggest problem is defense. If they commit to that side of the floor there would be few teams they couldnt beat

It seem like Cunningham could not stay in front of his man. Not to single him out because Rondo and Holiday had issues too but we really do need Solo back

[6warddude]

the saints done past the bad defense bug to the pelicans this year lol.......we just can have it all...

[Mythrol]

What a thoroughly disappointing, depressing, absolutely PATHETIC game.

Everyone inside the organization should be embarrassed into action.

[Pelicanidae]

It seem like Cunningham could not stay in front of his man. Not to single him out because Rondo and Holiday had issues too but we really do need Solo back

I agree. Say what you want about Solo and his offensive limitations but he is the type of player you can put on a hot shooter and get results from. Offensively he can be a non factor, but the man plays hard, gritty, tough, and more importantly consistent defense.

[Rheem654]

I know it's a knee-jerk reaction from the bad loss and Cousins' struggles and poor defense, but I can't stop thinking about a Porter/Gortat for Cousins/___ trade at the deadline if it's not working out. Porter's excellent 3-pt. shooting and all around bball IQ would be a great fit going forward, and Gortat is also smart and big to protect AD from heavy minutes at C.

Gortat
Davis
Porter
Holiday

[PolishFan]

I know it's a knee-jerk reaction from the bad loss and Cousins' struggles and poor defense, but I can't stop thinking about a Porter/Gortat for Cousins/___ trade at the deadline if it's not working out. Porter's excellent 3-pt. shooting and all around bball IQ would be a great fit going forward, and Gortat is also smart and big to protect AD from heavy minutes at C.

Gortat
Davis
Porter
Holiday

yeah, give me some Gortat

[UNO Gracias]

Keep on writing off games and you'll find yourself out of the playoff picture as quick as you can blink your eyes.

Amen. Keep writing off these losses and when we are sitting on the outside of the playoffs you can point back to all those "written off" losses. For this team we need every win we can get. There are no write offs. There is little to no room for error.

[PolishFan]

Amen. Keep writing off these losses and when we are sitting on the outside of the playoffs you can point back to all those "written off" losses. For this team we need every win we can get. There are no write offs. There is little to no room for error.

Well I would agree if they'd lost against Phoenix or Atlanta but at this point I think we can do it with the two losses against Toronto and Denver. The team showed potential and I am still optimistic about the season

[Pelicanidae]

Well I would agree if they'd lost against Phoenix or Atlanta but at this point I think we can do it with the two losses against Toronto and Denver. The team showed potential and I am still optimistic about the season

Yep, and when I say that I'm writing off the loss I don't mean that I don't care: I mean that its over, it's happened, and me railing against it won't change the number in the loss column. So the best thing to do is accept you blew it, knuckle up, and move forward.

[Topdawg26]

This team lacks focus on the defensive end. Something has to be done with this coaching staff. The body language of these players just look like they are going through the motions without a care in the world.

Yes sir! I’ve noticed that also. It seems like there is no effort on defense. Boogie refuses to play help defense and step out and guard the 3 point line. Meanwhile, nobody wants to grab a rebound unless it comes right to him. Not to mention on offense, the run to the other end before the shot hits the rim. That’s horrible. You can’t leave NBA level players wide open and expect them to miss. Even a below average 3 pt shooter can shoot lights out if left wide open in the NBA.

[new city champ]

I'm still hopeful for the Davis-DeMarcus pairing, but I'll admit I'm starting to see more clearly the challenges of having Cousins on your team. He's an unbelievable talent, clearly one of the top 10 players in the league talent-wise. But he also gives inconsistent effort, especially on defense, doesn't react well to adversity and is, at least lately, a turnover machine.

It's the intangibles that worry me most. You can already see in many of the teams we played a cohesion and buy-in from their rosters. They hustle for loose balls, fly out to the the three point line to contest shots, come hard on the double team. The Pels do all those things too...some of the time. Right now we are getting shot out of the gym on a nightly basis. Part of that is poor defense, part is just, I think, a rash of hot-shooting teams, and part is that our own outside shooting particularly from our starters is mediocre at best. We need Holiday and Cunningham to shoot better from behind the arc--period--or we are going to struggle to be more than a .500 team. We need Davis and Cousins to get inside more often, get to the line, and hit the glass harder.

Part of this is lighting a fire under their tails, especially Cousins. I don't know if that's something Gentry can really do...

[UNO Gracias]

It's a shame we don't have players of the caliber of Manu and Tony Parker, or Avery Johnson and Sean Elliot, or a coach of Pops level, because a pairing of AD and Boogie should be playing bully ball, and just dominating down low, or up top, or wherever the hell they want to dominate. That style of ball can still work, we just need to find the coach to make it work.