October 25th - New Orleans Pelicans @ Memphis Grizzlies - 0-0

My feed is a little late, just saw the BI to Zion lob, awesome stuff

This is disgusting with his RIGHT HAND @JDub9911

pic.twitter.com/jNKUe1KrzK

— Pro Pels Talk (@ProPelsTalk) October 26, 2023

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

This is disgusting with his RIGHT HAND @JDub9911

pic.twitter.com/jNKUe1KrzK

— Pro Pels Talk (@ProPelsTalk) October 26, 2023

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I’d like him to keep working on his weak hand. If he ain’t going to become a shooter, he can do himself wonders by showing more of THAT. Players won’t know what to do

So far so good. I'm not saying anything yet because that will just jinx it.

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

This is disgusting with his RIGHT HAND @JDub9911

pic.twitter.com/jNKUe1KrzK

— Pro Pels Talk (@ProPelsTalk) October 26, 2023

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:happy2::rocks:

Seems like the only thing missing on this squad is a point guard.

If Matt, Trey, and Hawkins are doing this they could have a 3 point shooter on the court, at all times.

Shots didn’t fall but more of that movement. Good stuff

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Originally Posted by smcgull

If Matt, Trey, and Hawkins are doing this they could have a 3 point shooter on the court, at all times.

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Imagine if they actually played either Zion or BI with those shooters as well, rather than playing them inexplicably without either of those guys? Could really be something.

I like the offball work from our starters so far. They aren’t just standing around and stopping the ball. We are doing nothing crazy- just player movement makes a massive difference

We struggle so much with basic, routine entry passes it drives me insane.

Every game it happens at least once. Zion or JV will get a seal inside, easy bucket, and it either gets completely missed or the entry pass is a TO

Hopefully his tailbone aight

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

We struggle so much with basic, routine entry passes it drives me insane.

Every game it happens at least once. Zion or JV will get a seal inside, easy bucket, and it either gets completely missed or the entry pass is a TO

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Yep. We shoot ourselves in the foot. We make those simple passes and we are skinning them. It’s annoying because we are actually moving well off the ball which often doesn’t happen.

That Smoothie King gut bomb commercial is disturbing.

Big shot by Herb

Good movement again

CJ has done a much better job of being involved off the ball tonight. This is what we need to make the trio work.

And as Dae said, those entry level passes are killing us. We are so lazy with some of them

So let's see if the page has turned or if we are still into blowing huge 4th quarter leads this year.

CJ haters club members hide yourselves, healthy CJ is back

I know people are going to talk more about who they were missing, but Pels were missing three main bench players.

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Originally Posted by hornetsrebirth

CJ haters club members hide yourselves, healthy CJ is back

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A healthy CJ is still one of the best shooters in the league.

That was a great game.

Good signs. This is exactly the type of game we would lose in the past. Starters were excellent. Brandon and Zion had great chemistry. CJ did a great job of being an offball threat and taking shots within the offense. He needs to play that way with BI and Zion on the court. Jonas and Herb were also excellent in their roles. Matty boy may be a gem when it’s all said and done for our bench. Unit. Good signs.

Some obvious problems throughout the game, still a lot to work on, but we won and that's really all I'm asking for at this stage. A win on the road is great.

Yes they were down a lot of very important factors, so are we (though admittedly, Ja is a bigger missing cog than any of ours). They were at home and couldn't maximise it.

Matt Ryan should keep getting minutes for at least a while, see what happens, and try to get more of them with the main guys. Nance still looked cooked. Offense has room to grow for everyone but Zion and BI still had good production overall, CJ offball is good, and JV continued being an eternal double double. What more can you want for game 1?

I hope this game displays why BI and a healthy CJ are so needed.

"Zion is unstoppable"...well not really. At least not until he develops a consistent short jumper to deal with the JJJs of the league.

Luckily not too many teams have those. In the meantime BIs ability to draw double teams helps everybody.

Ugly game at times but they should have won this game and did.

Next.

I think the biggest takeaway from tonight is Zion wasn’t overly used and relied on to run the offense tonight. I think it is our number 1 priority to keep him healthy. As it should be. The guy put up 23 without being super involved. He is insanely good. Let’s try and keep the wear and tear off of BI and Z

A great win. An important win. Be happy everyone!

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

Some obvious problems throughout the game, still a lot to work on, but we won and that's really all I'm asking for at this stage. A win on the road is great.

Yes they were down a lot of very important factors, so are we (though admittedly, Ja is a bigger missing cog than any of ours). They were at home and couldn't maximise it.

Matt Ryan should keep getting minutes for at least a while, see what happens, and try to get more of them with the main guys. Nance still looked cooked. Offense has room to grow for everyone but Zion and BI still had good production overall, CJ offball is good, and JV continued being an eternal double double. What more can you want for game 1?

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So glad Borrego got rid of any and all ISO ball that we were subjected to last year. We have to work on entry passes, but ball movement was excellent, spacing was great, and we hit shots at a good clip. Overall very enjoyable to watch.

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

Some obvious problems throughout the game, still a lot to work on, but we won and that's really all I'm asking for at this stage. A win on the road is great.

Yes they were down a lot of very important factors, so are we (though admittedly, Ja is a bigger missing cog than any of ours). They were at home and couldn't maximise it.

Matt Ryan should keep getting minutes for at least a while, see what happens, and try to get more of them with the main guys. Nance still looked cooked. Offense has room to grow for everyone but Zion and BI still had good production overall, CJ offball is good, and JV continued being an eternal double double. What more can you want for game 1?

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For me the blueprints were there. The turnovers were atrocious (but can be more attributed to lax passing than anything). I thought we did a much better job than usual just moving around and opening space in the middle. Really desperately need to be crisper in possession but I am most impressed with some of the interplay with B and Z tonight. We didn’t stop the ball too much and that is what I want to see.

Herb Jones deserves props this game. He got his money and still looks improved. Have seen so many times the opposite occur.

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Originally Posted by ragincaucasian

So glad Borrego got rid of any and all ISO ball that we were subjected to last year. We have to work on entry passes, but ball movement was excellent, spacing was great, and we hit shots at a good clip. Overall very enjoyable to watch.

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He didn't get rid of it entirely, there were still spots of it in this game particularly in the first half, but you can't expect miracles. Hopefully it will continue to reduce as we go along.

Entry passes are an eternal plague on us. Turnovers still need work. Ended up winning the three point battle but very early the shot distribution was very wonky. Defense had lapses.

But it's game one. No one is perfect and especially not in the first game. I'm happy with the game overall.

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Originally Posted by luckyman

Herb Jones deserves props this game. He got his money and still looks improved. Have seen so many times the opposite occur.

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True. I mean we always thought Herb would be that guy anyway, but good on him.

Love the positive vibes to start the season! Hopefully it continues inside the blender Saturday. Pleasantly surprised by our offensive output without Trey.

Herb shot 2/3 from 3 tonight - percentage is important but not as important as volume when it comes to gravity. Want him taking 4 a game.

Matty flipped the game on its head I will say that. We played much more confidently after he made those shots

From @ESPNStatsInfo: Zion scored the final 12 points for the Pelicans on Wednesday.

The only two people to score more consecutive points to end a game in franchise history are Jamal Mashburn (13) and Zion last year (14). pic.twitter.com/ZqF8qCqkCw

— Andrew Lopez (@_Andrew_Lopez) October 26, 2023

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

From @ESPNStatsInfo: Zion scored the final 12 points for the Pelicans on Wednesday.

The only two people to score more consecutive points to end a game in franchise history are Jamal Mashburn (13) and Zion last year (14). pic.twitter.com/ZqF8qCqkCw

— Andrew Lopez (@_Andrew_Lopez) October 26, 2023

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Let him have a go against tired legs is what the data tells me lol. They can’t handle him

Outside of the turnovers, there was a lot to like with what we saw. The Pels handled business with everyone being involved and playing with confidence. Bravo!

Spacing for the most part was great. There were many open looks. Hope it stays that way. If so, Trey will feast when he gets back.

i didnt know that we signed ryan or that nance was playing tonight...

Ryan teasing me with the 3s...

the best part of the game for me was seeing our offense setup plays for the 3pt shooters....we actually was seeing plays being called to get our 3pt shooters wide open looks....man that was beautiful...

Turnovers still a big problem and will likely take a while to fix with new offense and multiple guys initiating offense. Good showing tonight though really happy with the win.

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Originally Posted by PELICANSFAN

Highly likely we defer that pick to 2025 and hope it is good then.

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my guess, Laker's 2024 pick will be used in trade next free agency

AN inside rim protector to close games. Nance too small, Jonas too slow,clumsy

As usual Zion gets all the praise and highlight videos, but CJ balled out last night. So I'm leaving this thing here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9EG...okies%26Kareem

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Originally Posted by luckyman

As usual Zion gets all the praise and highlight videos, but CJ balled out last night. So I'm leaving this thing here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9EGnKivWwE&t=9s&ab_channel=Cookies%26Kareem

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I was honestly impressed with him. He even tried a little on defense. Can’t complain at all about his performance.

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Originally Posted by luckyman

As usual Zion gets all the praise and highlight videos, but CJ balled out last night. So I'm leaving this thing here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9EGnKivWwE&t=9s&ab_channel=Cookies%26Kareem

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They can both have played well. CJ was the player of the game, so not sure how he did not get any praise. I thought he played very well. He did not force anything and his off ball movement was very good. He has some really nice open looks and took advantage of them.