December 1st - New Orleans Pelicans vs San Antonio Spurs - 10-9

"DEFENSIVE BREAKDOWNS!!!"

Joel should just put that on tape and have it cued and ready for every game.

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Originally Posted by Freyfamilyreuni

So ex-lain to me how Sojan gets that call and BI doesn?t

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BI is wearing a Pelicans jersey, which explains a lot.

Tr3y again

Tr3y again!

Wow we’ve been missing this

Love some Trey me

Trey heating up is always so fun. He's 4/10 from 3 on his first night back.

Nice to see BI getting it down low to Jonas

Hey BI got a call

I’d review that foul that looked a little dirty

That may be the funniest thing I have seen all year

They’ve been sitting Zion a while, is there hope that he’s being rested for his 1st back to back?

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Originally Posted by Freyfamilyreuni

They’ve been sitting Zion a while, is there hope that he’s being rested for his 1st back to back?

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Willie Green said before the game that the current plan is that Zion plays tomorrow. So that's what it feels like. About 26 minutes when he averages about 32.

Okay so we played a bad team and won by 15 despite Zion having an intensely mid game, BI shooting 3/14 from the floor, and CJ being largely non-existent in the first half.

How? JV was a monster with 24/12, Trey returned to give us only the 2nd time a bench player has scored 18 points for us this season, and Herb was Herb.

Gave us enough time for CJ to wake up late, and for BI to start working the passing game.

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Originally Posted by Freyfamilyreuni

I?ll be really irritated if we lose this game

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Last Four Games we played.....

...Utah without Lauri Markkanen (2023 All Star and Most Improved Player) or Jordan Clarkson (former Sixth Man of the Year) and lost be five.
...Utah without Laura Markkanen (2023 All Star and Most Improved Player) and lost by eight.
...Philadelphia without Joel Embiid (2023 League MVP and other honors to numerous to mention) and won by 10
...San Antonio without Victor Wembanyama (2023 First Overall Draft Pick) and won by 15.

Really good teams would have won all four and the game tomorrow night, but 2 and 2 under these circumstances will do.....I guess.

The depth for surely makes us way better. Personally think we had enough talent to take a few of the ones we lost, but I feel way more comfortable with everyone back. We are our own worst enemy at times but this is a bit of a fail safe for our off nights. We can fall on CJ and Trey when some of our guys are having a rough night. Naji and Jose are also very welcome. So glad we have the squad back

Willie Green talking about Zion and Trey's chemistry in the postgame. Totally accurate, a few of Trey's makes came off Zion assists and some of those passes were pretty. Like this one:

TREY MURPHY WE MISSED YOU pic.twitter.com/vjEmA2a6kr

— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) December 2, 2023

Also, gotta say: 10 3PAs in 22 minutes.

Trey understands his job. Those shots get up there.

Trey Murphy on why he cheers for BI drawing contact off his pump fakes pic.twitter.com/V9a8fJ8qWJ

— Shamit Dua (@FearTheBrown) December 2, 2023

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Originally Posted by As I See It

Last Four Games we played.....

...Utah without Lauri Markkanen (2023 All Star and Most Improved Player) or Jordan Clarkson (former Sixth Man of the Year) and lost be five.
...Utah without Laura Markkanen (2023 All Star and Most Improved Player) and lost by eight.
...Philadelphia without Joel Embiid (2023 League MVP and other honors to numerous to mention) and won by 10
...San Antonio without Victor Wembanyama (2023 First Overall Draft Pick) and won by 15.

Really good teams would have won all four and the game tomorrow night, but 2 and 2 under these circumstances will do.....I guess.

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We have a deep, talented team that's getting healthy and will really fun to watch the rest of this season, if you allow yourself to have a little of that.

Good game , happy with the win & TMIII return.

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Originally Posted by neworleanshoo

We have a deep, talented team that's getting healthy and will really fun to watch the rest of this season, if you allow yourself to have a little of that.

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JV and 3M3 had fabulous games and carried us. Herb is always a joy to watch. So there was plenty to be excited about, but I'm grounded in a sense of reality and will not turn my head to the team's warts. When everybody decides to play both sides of the court, this team could be special. Offense ebbs and flows, but on winning teams...defense is a constant; in other words it's not a choice.

So glad to have Trey Murphy back. Let’s keep the winning momentum going. Just win

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Originally Posted by As I See It

JV and 3M3 had fabulous games and carried us. Herb is always a joy to watch. So there was plenty to be excited about, but I'm grounded in a sense of reality and will not turn my head to the team's warts. When everybody decides to play both sides of the court, this team could be special. Offense ebbs and flows, but on winning teams...defense is a constant; in other words it's not a choice.

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Show me a team where every player plays both sides of the court all the time. Take a look at Milwaukee. They trade Jrue, and their defense has fallen off substantially. Steph's no NBA all-defense team type of player either. EVERY team has warts.

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Originally Posted by RobertM320

Show me a team where every player plays both sides of the court all the time. Take a look at Milwaukee. They trade Jrue, and their defense has fallen off substantially. Steph's no NBA all-defense team type of player either. EVERY team has warts.

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...and your point is to ignore ours?

Offense is based on talent; defense is a mindset (see Cody Zeller).

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Originally Posted by RobertM320

Show me a team where every player plays both sides of the court all the time. Take a look at Milwaukee. They trade Jrue, and their defense has fallen off substantially. Steph's no NBA all-defense team type of player either. EVERY team has warts.

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Lillard another example of a game changing megastar who plays zero defense. Luka.

The reality is that defense is a team outcome in the majority of instances. There are very few individual players in the league who are impactful enough on defense for them to be singularly important - Herb is one of them and we're very lucky to have him. But for the most part, defense is about the team approach, and we're a top 10 defense over the last 10 games and we were top 6 last year and top 8 the year before. So whatever we're doing is clearly working.

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

Lillard another example of a game changing megastar who plays zero defense. Luka.

The reality is that defense is a team outcome in the majority of instances. There are very few individual players in the league who are impactful enough on defense for them to be singularly important - Herb is one of them and we're very lucky to have him. But for the most part, defense is about the team approach, and we're a top 10 defense over the last 10 games and we were top 6 last year and top 8 the year before. So whatever we're doing is clearly working.

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Absolutely correct; defense is a team concept. If just one of five is taking time off...being a spectator...undisciplined...chasing...playing matador defense, it destroys the team defensively. In the Pelicans case, it's often more than one not holding up their end of the bargain.

And you are right, the Pels are fortunate to have Herb. He's a defensive juggernaut. But, how many times does Herb have to sit early because he's picked up two fouls trying to cover for someone's (no names) laziness?

Now would you like to talk about how defensive rebounding ties into 'team defense'? As we speak, we are in the bottom third of the league in defensive rebounding. I wonder how that translates into second chance points for our opponents.

How many championships has the elite Lillard or Luka (still young) competed for?