November 19th - New Orleans Pelicans vs San Antonio Spurs - 9-7
Third game in four nights, let's go.
Pelicans are currently 7-1 at home after beating Denver off the backs of AD's second consecutive 40 point game, as well as 20/10 games from both Randle and Mirotic. Let's hope AD can do it again: if he scores at least 35 tonight, he becomes the first New Orleans Pelican to ever reach 10k career points, as well as the 8th youngest player to ever hit 10k points for any franchise. Not too bad for a guy who wasn't projected to be a scorer when he came into the league.
Last time we played the Spurs, we were in San Antonio, and we lost. It wasn't a nice game. It was a double digit loss, AD only had 17 points (although 5 blocks was nice) and the entire team shot poorly. We were only 29% from 3, and AD/Randle/Clark combined to shoot 9/26 from the floor. Of course, last time we were on the road, AD was coming back off injury, and they were on a three game winning streak when they hit us. This time, we're at home, AD has been on fire recently, and we've won 5 of our last six.
The San Antonio Spurs are a team we have to beat at home. It's understandable losing to them on the road, but at home, we need to win. They are a middling team: an 8-7 record is solid, but they're the kind of team who has beaten Phoenix by 30, and also lost to Phoenix by 20. That's just how they are. They're 14th in offensive rating, and 13th in defensive rating. They're 27th in both steals and blocks, 20th in rebounds, and 21st in assists. They're 29th in 2pt%, but 5th in 3pt%. They are 1st in turnovers and 1st in PFs.
What does that tell us? Well, they're not going to hammer you in the paint, they aren't a great offensive or defensive team, they don't rack up assists, and they aren't going to kill you on the boards. But they're also not going to beat themselves. They won't throw the ball away, and they won't give you a million FTAs. They are a sound team, and they're the kind of team that you can lose to easily if you take them lightly, even if you definitely should win.
So yeah, that's about it. If we execute, this should be easy to put away. If we fall apart, this will be a surefire loss. We don't need fireworks, we just need to play our game, and play it properly, and we should walk out of this 10-7.
#DoItBig
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Originally Posted by jprdbulldog20
