4th March - New Orleans Pelicans @ Dallas Mavericks - 26-35

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Originally Posted by Eman5805

Nah. I want him out there. What better cardio could he ever get than this?

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Yeah I'm fine with it also. Maybe control the minutes a little bit, keep him under 30, but play him if he's healthy.

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Originally Posted by Eman5805

Only edge Frank really has on NAW is he's been in the league two years longer.

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Which makes his clumsiness slightly less forgivable :hihi:

That was a surprisingly good 1st half. Players showed up. Coaching didn't. Melli and Zion isn't going to work. We need to Favors to bang bodies with Krip to free up Zion

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Originally Posted by Eman5805

Only edge Frank really has on NAW is he's been in the league two years longer.

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It sucks because both of them are really talented but try to do too much because they know they have a limited amount of minutes to make an impact.

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Originally Posted by Eman5805

Only edge Frank really has on NAW is he's been in the league two years longer.

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He's a much better defender than NAW, not that it means a lot on this team.

I feel like we should be getting killed in this game, but it is somehow close.

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Originally Posted by As I See It

He's a much better defender than NAW, not that it means a lot on this team.

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The illusion of being better is simply by having playing time.

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Originally Posted by Biasvasospasm

I feel like we should be getting killed in this game, but it is somehow close.

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A lot of clutch shooting. Just hope it doesn't dry up in the 4th like it usually do when the players run the legs out from underneath them.

Halftime Stats: Pels Down 57-55

Zion: 9 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist. 4/10 shooting (40%), 1/1 from FT line. 0 turnovers, 0 fouls.
Ingram: 13 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists. 5/9 shooting (55.6%), 1/3 from 3. 2 turnovers, 1 foul.
Jrue: 12 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal. 5/12 shooting (41.7%), 2/4 from 3. 1 turnover, 2 fouls.
Favors: 4 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, 1 steal. 2/4 shooting. 1 turnover, 2 fouls.
Lonzo:12 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal. 4/8 shooting, all from 3. 2 turnovers, 0 fouls.


Bench

Hart: 0 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist. 0/1 shooting.
Melli: 0 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists. 0/5 shooting. 1 turnover, 2 fouls.
Hayes: 0 points 0 rebounds 0 assists, 0/1 shooting, 3 minutes.
Moore: 2 points, 0 rebounds, 0 assists. 1/2 shooting. 1 turnover, 1 foul.
Frank: 3 points, 0 rebounds, 0 assists. 1/1 shooting.


Big shoutout to the bench for the 2nd game in a row, giving us absolutely nothing! Great to see.

Has anybody got any recent info on Didi Louzada-Silva?

2/10 shooting from the bench is beautiful though, I do love that. 20% shooting.

Reminds me of last game, where the entire bench went 9/30, for 30%.

Glorious stuff. Whole bench just really showing up right now.

Two complete ying yang quarters. Amusing.

That offensive board stat (Pels 8 Mavs 1) is sechsy.

Rick Carlisle on Zion Williamson: “His level of force and efficiency is just unprecedented for a player of that age. Watching him is a breathtaking experience.”

— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) March 5, 2020

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Originally Posted by As I See It

Has anybody got any recent info on Didi Louzada-Silva?

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He's in the playoffs with Sydney.

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

One of my firmest convictions is that Zion can be a +defender. He was a brilliant defender at Duke, excellent at the point of attack and at creating events. Racked up stupid steal and block rates, including as help.

It's not here with any consistency yet. That's cool with me. But you're right, next year after a full training camp and hopefully a summer he spends in the gym, I'll want that defense to start coming back more regularly.

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I think it's a weight and conditioning thing, and a postsurgery thing in a big way. It's also an awareness and rookie thing. But his lack of length is also really showing up in the NBA. Teams are not bothered when he is contesting.

I am becoming resigned that being a neutral with some pluses and some minuses might be best we could expect.

Wow. I thought his head hit the floor for a second there.

How wasn't that a foul?

Kristaps went completely through Zion's arm but okay no big deal that's cool

Zion's tryna do too much. They're doing really well containing him.

Announcer is clearly not an MMA fan after hearing him take a pause and then proceed to butcher that name.

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Originally Posted by Biasvasospasm

I think it's a weight and conditioning thing, and a postsurgery thing in a big way. It's also an awareness and rookie thing. But his lack of length is also really showing up in the NBA. Teams are not bothered when he is contesting.

I am becoming resigned that being a neutral with some pluses and some minuses might be best we could expect.

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He's not particularly short rather than long (didn't do the combine obviously so we don't have exact stats but most pre-draft stuff had his height as 6'7 and his length as 6'10; no reason to assume he's suddenly got a 6'6 wingspan too) so I don't care about that. And even if he was, lack of length can be offset by feel and strength; Jrue, for example, is 6'4 with a 6'5.5 wingspan. Completely unimpressive. Doesn't matter, has spent several years as a top defender.

I trust in Zion's previous defensive excellence to shine through. Maybe he'll never be a DPOY but I am absolutely convinced that he can be a solid, positive defender.

Sweet chin music.

Zion's having an ugly night. Part of it is forcing too much. Part of it is that he's taken 11 shots so far, been fouled on about 7 of them, and has gotten a total of 2 (two) foul calls.

I hate how many teams so far have decided that the best defensive strategy against Zion is ''just hit him''. I'm even more annoyed at how many refs have decided that that's totally fine.

Almost want Zion to just chuck up a 3 or two. Just start pulling the defense out a little. They'll give him enough space that I feel like he can make one.

Lonzo is FEELIN IT

Can't jump on a fake, man.

Lonzo was 7/10 from 3 last night. He's 5/7 tonight. That's 12 of his last 17.

Fred Vinson deserves a raise.

Ball got the juice

I think Zion's 20 point game streak ends tonight.

Jrue gets in foul trouble.

No adjustment to match up

Just put Frank freaking Jackson on Luka.

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

I hate how many teams so far have decided that the best defensive strategy against Zion is ''just hit him''. I'm even more annoyed at how many refs have decided that that's totally fine.

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Shaq rules. Can't call them all.

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

Zion's having an ugly night. Part of it is forcing too much. Part of it is that he's taken 11 shots so far, been fouled on about 7 of them, and has gotten a total of 2 (two) foul calls.

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Maybe I'm wrong, but I think because of his size and style of play he won't get the benefit of a lot of those foul calls from the officials.

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Originally Posted by Taker597

Jrue gets in foul trouble.

No adjustment to match up

Just put Frank freaking Jackson on Luka.

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Yeah, this is ridiculous. The Pelicans seem to have an internal belief about Frank Jackson which is unsupported by reality.

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Originally Posted by Chris

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think because of his size and style of play he won't get the benefit of a lot of those foul calls from the officials.

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Unless you're LeBron. Then, you can bully ball all day.

FAVORS NOOOO!

Please be minor.

Good to have JJ bac....oh wait.....that's Lonzo.

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Originally Posted by kinglio21093

I think Zion's 20 point game streak ends tonight.

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He's had a rough go of it. Games like these are often more informative than their good games.

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Originally Posted by Biasvasospasm

Shaq rules. Can't call them all.

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Maybe I'm just some crazy insane person, but I feel like if someone gets clearly and blatantly fouled, you should call it.

Shaq averaged at least 10 FTAs per game for 10 of his first 13 seasons, by the way.

You maybe can't call them all, but you can definitely call a lot more of them than this.

Hart boxing out Krip... Wow

I hate these chucking 3s so early in the shot clock. Especially from someone like Hart who is struggling with his shot.

Ingram playing smart so far.

Really start to dislike Hart the past few weeks.

Zion looked frustrated in the bench just now with Gentry sitting him again

Just want to inform everyone that, as the 3rd quarter comes to a close, the bench has now increased their total contribution to this game from 2/10 shooting, to 3/13 shooting.

They're now shooting 23.1% from the floor, for a total of 7 points.

Meanwhile, Dallas' bench has given them 25 points on 8/11 shooting, for 72.7%

WHAT IS HART DOING

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Originally Posted by Taker597

Really start to dislike Hart the past few weeks.

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He's been awful for a couple of games. Still rebounding well, and has a nice hustle play every now and again, but his shot has deserted him recently and he's making some real bone-head moves.

Hart needs to sit. He's been awful the last 5 games.

Luka has three air balls and these Dallas degens have the neeve to raz Josh.

Okay, I'm done with Hart. He was junk in that trade. He still junk now.