December 23rd - New Orleans Pelicans @ Toronto Raptors - 0-0

Pelicans Saints
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Kicking the ********
Out of teams in
Tampa Bay

— NOLA Pelicans Reddit (@PelicansReddit) December 24, 2020

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Originally Posted by scedotal

My disappointment is with Ball. He seems like a liability. Maybe we should try the rookie.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Ball scares me every time he touches the ball. Straight up.

Hell of a night for BI. Fun to watch him become an all around player.

That game had a good tell and I called it.

That +5/+4 against a relocated team with a rep of gassing out in the 2nd half was just disrespectful.

I like how no one is asking to see the rookie Louis play, because the team is so good. If they were going to be a bad team, everyone would be asking to see him just to have something exciting to watch.

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Originally Posted by Taker597

That game had a good tell and I called it.

That +5/+4 against a relocated team with a rep of gassing out in the 2nd half was just disrespectful.

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Glad to see you won some money.

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Originally Posted by As I See It

Gave up only 42 Points in the second half.

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The games were much more exciting when we gave up 42 in the 1st quarter and the highlight of the night was when we pulled back within 15.

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Originally Posted by luckyman

Ball scares me every time he touches the ball. Straight up.

Hell of a night for BI. Fun to watch him become an all around player.

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Zo had a good game. Will only get better.

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Originally Posted by HartOfaPelican

Zo had a good game. Will only get better.

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If you call 5 turnovers to 2 assists a good game. Reckless with the ball once again. His only saving grace was going 4 - 8 on threes. Otherwise it was an ugly night as a ball handler.

45% from three every night would be nice. Shooting more free throws then the home team is nice. Shooting 50% from the free throw line is ______. But out-rebounding an opponent by 10 is also nice.

And I told folks Bled can shoot.

Hopefully they keep it up so the "spacing spacing spacing" cheerleading squad can stfu.

They made 19 threes tonight and had 20 FTAs. Thats an analytics orgasm.

We have our 1st winning record in 2 years. It feels good

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Originally Posted by luckyman

And I told folks Bled can shoot.

Hopefully they keep it up so the "spacing spacing spacing" cheerleading squad can stfu.

They made 19 threes tonight and had 20 FTAs. Thats an analytics orgasm.

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What people hate to admit is that Bledsoe provides better spacing than Jrue. Even if Bledsoe catch and shoot is bad

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Originally Posted by Taker597

We have our 1st winning record in 2 years. It feels good

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Pop open the champagne

We played two bigs for 30+ minutes tonight. +10 on rebound. Really enjoyed that. We do need a vet big when we have to play big more on most nights.


Shut down the Lonzo transition lob crap. It was a cool gimmick, but teams have snuffed it out that aren't the New York Knicks.

It’s amazing what limiting turnovers and rebounding will do. Now hit your free throws and it’s a blowout. Hopefully Hayes or Melli steps up this year. Well need one of them to give us good minutes. Adams was awesome a definite upgrade over Favors so far and Bledsoe was solid. I won’t say as good as Jrue but not a big drop off either.

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Originally Posted by tdcreator

It’s amazing what limiting turnovers and rebounding will do. Now hit your free throws and it’s a blowout. Hopefully Hayes or Melli steps up this year. Well need one of them to give us good minutes. Adams was awesome a definite upgrade over Favors so far and Bledsoe was solid. I won’t say as good as Jrue but not a big drop off either.

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We can kick the tire on Dedmon.

BI wont get the recognition he deserves for opening night. All because that crazy bank-shot-step-back 3 point game winner Tatum made in that awesome Milwaukee/Boston game.

But BI truly had the best opening night of any SF all things considered. Better than PG too.

The Pels have a lot to clean up but that was a great TEAM win.

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Originally Posted by luckyman

If you call 5 turnovers to 2 assists a good game. Reckless with the ball once again. His only saving grace was going 4 - 8 on threes. Otherwise it was an ugly night as a ball handler.

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I guess they want Eric to be the 1 and Lonzo to be the 2.

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Originally Posted by luckyman

BI wont get the recognition he deserves for opening night. All because that crazy bank-shot-step-back 3 point game winner Tatum made in that awesome Milwaukee/Boston game.

But BI truly had the best opening night of any SF all things considered. Better than PG too.

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What can say is that he's keep getting better. Once he gets the bulk to really start playing all world defense. He'll be a top 5 SF in recognition.. He's showing flashes of a much less robotic kawhi, but not as physically imposing.

I love that Stan was willing to dump his inside out philosophy after half time when Toronto has the nerve to try and disrespect us with the zone :hihi: Just got our shooters into the game and made it rain from 3

I love that we didn’t force it to Zion when they were game planning hard for him.

I love that BI killed it after that horrible first half. I love it how he just shot in their faces after they tried to stall us with that zone in the 2nd quarter :hihi:

Glorious first game from Stan. Not pretty, but glorious all the same. A real coach gets his guys to defend. A real coach makes adjustments when needed. He easily could have played into Toronto’s hands and kept us driving into the paint but we took advantage of the disrespect they gave us at the 3 point line. We didn’t play into the media’s hands and shy away

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Originally Posted by Taker597

What can say is that he's keep getting better. Once he gets the bulk to really start playing all world defense. He'll be a top 5 SF in recognition.. He's showing flashes of a much less robotic kawhi, but not as physically imposing.

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I'd also add to the Kawhi comparison - probably less clutch of a shooter than Kawhi but also is much more likely to have a 10+ assist game

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Originally Posted by akhan786

I'd also add to the Kawhi comparison - probably less clutch of a shooter than Kawhi but also is much more likely to have a 10+ assist game

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His game is just silky smooth when he's vibing right.

Mac tweeting that he thinks Zion has lost some of his love for the game

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Originally Posted by 13 - 3

Pelicans Saints
��
Kicking the ********
Out of teams in
Tampa Bay

— NOLA Pelicans Reddit (@PelicansReddit) December 24, 2020

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And also like their pro roommates, gets NO HELP from officials. At all.

good game....we need a backup center...

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Originally Posted by 6warddude

good game....we need a backup center...

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Too soon to worry. We should expect Hayes to have ups and downs especially during the first half of the season. Let's see how he looks by February before we have enough data to make a sound judgment. I always expect Hayes to struggle against teams who can play with him athletically and that's what we saw tonight.

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Originally Posted by smcgull

I guess they want Eric to be the 1 and Lonzo to be the 2.

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Stan don’t care about numbers he just wants Zion and Ingram on the court

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Originally Posted by smcgull

I guess they want Eric to be the 1 and Lonzo to be the 2.

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Looked to me that they want BI to play Point Forward for the team....especially in crunch time.

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Originally Posted by AusPel

Mac tweeting that he thinks Zion has lost some of his love for the game

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More like we aren?t forcing our offense through him which is perfectly fine. Wins are more important than personal gains.

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Originally Posted by JJackisangry

More like we aren?t forcing our offense through him which is perfectly fine. Wins are more important than personal gains.

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I think it's as much or more to do with effort/distruption on the defensive end and just general passion on the court I think

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Originally Posted by luckyman

If you call 5 turnovers to 2 assists a good game. Reckless with the ball once again. His only saving grace was going 4 - 8 on threes. Otherwise it was an ugly night as a ball handler.

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It?s. Game. One.

Half way through the game people were calling BI?s contract bad already.


He will get better. Also... he was great on the D side
Tonight.

Jrue Holiday trending. Glad he had a big night too.

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Originally Posted by HartOfaPelican

It?s. Game. One.

Half way through the game people were calling BI?s contract bad already.


He will get better. Also... he was great on the D side
Tonight.

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Our entire team was bad turning the ball over. I'm not too worried about it. I expected this to be a pain point early on in the season. But Balls defense was absolutely stunning tonight.

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Originally Posted by AusPel

I think it's as much or more to do with effort/distruption on the defensive end and just general passion on the court I think

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That block and his rebounding certainly set the tone. I think he was great and good to see him putting in the effort on that end

I do think Zion needs to add a jumper to his game just to switch it up a bit. It makes me sad when teams try to go zone and force us to chuck 3’s. I want to see Zion slap people around, but that won’t always be viable

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Originally Posted by Snarly

Our entire team was bad turning the ball over. I'm not too worried about it. I expected this to be a pain point early on in the season. But Balls defense was absolutely stunning tonight.

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He’s our second best player off the ball after JJ. Glad to see someone else sees it.

Agreed about the turnovers. The one thing that concerns me is the FT still, they need to get that together fast! It’s just a confidence factor. They are pros and know how to make them.... there should be not excuses other than Adam’s who’s hands are larger then the ball.

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Originally Posted by JJackisangry

I do think Zion needs to add a jumper to his game just to switch it up a bit. It makes me sad when teams try to go zone and force us to chuck 3’s. I want to see Zion slap people around, but that won’t always be viable

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Agreed! One improvement I have seen so far is his willingness to go to his right at the rim. Good to see that’s developing.

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Originally Posted by Snarly

Too soon to worry. We should expect Hayes to have ups and downs especially during the first half of the season. Let's see how he looks by February before we have enough data to make a sound judgment. I always expect Hayes to struggle against teams who can play with him athletically and that's what we saw tonight.

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Dont need anything. They went with Zion since Toronto likes to jack 3s and play small. Hayes is fine where he is.

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Originally Posted by HartOfaPelican

It?s. Game. One.

Half way through the game people were calling BI?s contract bad already.


He will get better. Also... he was great on the D side
Tonight.

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Nah bruh. You cant play this "it's game one" stuff. These are issues with his game since he got here.

And dear god I hope Stan make him stop that stupid homerun pass to Zion. It's not open so he needs to stop it.

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Originally Posted by luckyman

Nah bruh. You cant play this "it's game one" stuff. These are issues with his game since he got here.

And dear god I hope Stan make him stop that stupid homerun pass to Zion. It's not open so he needs to stop it.

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TWO THINGS:

1. I want Zion rebounding defensively...no need to be the first up-court offensively.
2. It's only putting Zion in position to get hurt because he is totally exposed.

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Originally Posted by As I See It

TWO THINGS:

1. I want Zion rebounding defensively...no need to be the first up-court offensively.
2. It's only putting Zion in position to get hurt because he is totally exposed.

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It gives me Vietnam flashbacks of Gerald Wallace torpedoing into Ryan Anderson?s back and injuring him for the season. Lonzo gotta chill

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Originally Posted by As I See It

TWO THINGS:

1. I want Zion rebounding defensively...no need to be the first up-court offensively.
2. It's only putting Zion in position to get hurt because he is totally exposed.

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I agree. Even when it works it makes me cringe.

And Hart needs to stop these 1 on 4 fast breaks.

Just silly habits the previous regime allowed that needs to be exorcised.

JJ Redick " Every time Bled (Eric Bledsoe) made a shot tonight, kept yelling he's a f------ shooter." @jj_redick isn't lying. @wdsu '(Warning, Redick curses on this clip. I warned you.) pic.twitter.com/yProFydwpP

— Sharief Ishaq (@ShariefWDSU) December 24, 2020

[QUOTE=luckyman;1539696]Nah bruh. You cant play this "it's game one" stuff. These are issues with his game since he got here.

And dear god I hope Stan make him stop that stupid homerun pass to Zion. It's not open so he needs to stop it.[/QUOTE

Maybe.... just maybe.... they tell him that it’s ok because they want the other team to always be worried about the fast break.

Giannis missed a game tying FT tonight at the end of the game. He’s washed up and not worth his contract. Time for the bucks to trade him. Game one of the season and he does that.... all that money for him to miss a simple free throw.....unacceptable!

The “it’s just one game” is totally valid IMO.

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Originally Posted by luckyman

Nah bruh. You cant play this "it's game one" stuff. These are issues with his game since he got here.

And dear god I hope Stan make him stop that stupid homerun pass to Zion. It's not open so he needs to stop it.

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Eh.....

Not only was it game 1.....it was game 1 of him obviously playing a different role where his shot %s mean more than assists. Which were pretty good numbers.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAND it was against Toronto. A very solid defensive team.

Zo looked good to great, tonight. It was very noticeable that the only time the game started to pull away from us was when he and Zion had to sit with fouls. Stats are NOT everything.

You guys are extremely harsh. Lonzo scored 16 on only 9 shots... while playing great defense. The TO's are an issue. But the whole team was turning it over constantly. He shot 6 free throws by attacking the basket. something everyone here constantly complains about. Last year he averaged 1.2 attempts a game. There are positive signs and this was a positive game for him. Yes he had some negatives, everyone on the team did. People's bias is showing hard.

Also a massive LOL to the guy that said Ingram forgot how to play basketball midway through this thread, genius take, props for that one.

Just for reference, the turnover rate for a lot of these games tonight were extremely high. I wouldn't be too concerned unless it continues through the month and we start losing games because of it.

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Originally Posted by wagman

You guys are extremely harsh. Lonzo scored 16 on only 9 shots... while playing great defense. The TO's are an issue. But the whole team was turning it over constantly. He shot 6 free throws by attacking the basket. something everyone here constantly complains about. Last year he averaged 1.2 attempts a game. There are positive signs and this was a positive game for him. Yes he had some negatives, everyone on the team did. People's bias is showing hard.

Also a massive LOL to the guy that said Ingram forgot how to play basketball midway through this thread, genius take, props for that one.

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I agree. The botched lob was one play out of many. It's annoying yes, but it does drop him from a B- game to a C- game. He had a really solid game. A 5 TO night is bad if it's 3 or 4 consecutive games of 5 TO nights.

This is coming from a Ball doubter from day one. I may not bw big of a Ball hater as Dae, but I'm a solid 2nd of the list that is not particularly impressed by Ball.

All in all... What surprised me the most was the rebounding and defensive playmaking throughout the game. The guys really just grind and grind their way into rhythm/win while playing very sloppy.

This is a good win and film to evaluate.