November 22nd - New Orleans Pelicans vs Sacramento Kings - 7-7

Thanksgiving Eve hoops 🏀

🕖: 7 PM CT
📺: @BallySportsNO
📻: @995WRNO#PelicansGameday | @SmoothieKing pic.twitter.com/z59UJZSYwy

— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) November 22, 2023

Today will be an interesting game. Of course, last game we crushed the Kings - garbage time is the only reason it wasn't a 40 point loss for them. But that was the SGB2B for them, and that almost certainly played a role. Tonight, they'll be back with a little bit of rest and almost certainly ready for some vengeance; we've been there ourselves this season, as we lost to Dallas by double digits (at one point, they were up 116-87) and then played them again two days later and won 131-110. The bounce back can be real.

So we have to be ready for that. We also have to be prepared for our shooting to be worse than last game; Ingram probably isn't going to go 5/5 from 3 again, for example, and outside of that we had very little shooting through the majority of the night. Can we find a way to generate some more looks there tonight, or is it just a case of having to hope that we can dominate the paint and glass in the same way as last game? Fingers crossed that it's both, but who knows.

Injury report:

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New Orleans center/forward Larry Nance Jr. (right rib fracture) has been sidelined for the past four games, but he was upgraded to questionable on Tuesday?s injury report, ahead of a Wednesday home game against Sacramento. A total of five Pelicans players are out, including CJ McCollum (right lung small pneumothorax), Trey Murphy (left knee partial meniscectomy), Matt Ryan (right calf strain), E.J. Liddell (G League assignment) and Dereon Seabron (G League two-way).

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Let's see if we can pull off the consecutive wins, or if the Kings have made the adjustments - both to gameplan and pride - to take one back.

Big game. End of our homestand. I feel like a W is important here. Let's get it.

The same results as last game...this time instead of ending it in the 3rd, we will put it away in the 4th around the 6min mark.....

Willie cheated zion from getting 30pts last game by pulling him out with 8mins to play , so i think zion get his 30pts tonight...

go pels....

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Originally Posted by 6warddude

The same results as last game...this time instead of ending it in the 3rd, we will put it away in the 4th around the 6min mark.....

Willie cheated zion from getting 30pts last game by pulling him out with 8mins to play , so i think zion get his 30pts tonight...

go pels....

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This is quite rich!!!

While there is a lot we could (and often do) criticize Willie for, this isn't one of them.

Let #1 get injured during mop up time everyone would would want Willie's head. But despite a 31 point lead heading into the fourth, he did get some run.

Whatever we do, do not let the Kings settle. If they try to cheese us with the usual stack the paint nonsense, get them out of it quick. Go early in the shot clock, be aggressive and force them to either collapse or switch strategies.

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Originally Posted by As I See It

This is quite rich!!!

While there is a lot we could (and often do) criticize Willie for, this isn't one of them.

Let #1 get injured during mop up time everyone would would want Willie's head. But despite a 31 point lead heading into the fourth, he did get some run.

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ingram was still in the game a lil more, plus he hurt his knee in the 1st period against the kings and to me it didnt seem like injury was a concern in the second half for him....i wanted zion to score 4 easy points so him and ingram would have 30 each...zion was unstoppable and could have got those 4pts easy and imo he was going for it before willie took him out....watch the replay and look at zion demeanor when he was going to the bench...

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Originally Posted by 6warddude

ingram was still in the game a lil more, plus he hurt his knee in the 1st period against the kings and to me it didnt seem like injury was a concern in the second half for him....i wanted zion to score 4 easy points so him and ingram would have 30 each...zion was unstoppable and could have got those 4pts easy and imo he was going for it before willie took him out....watch the replay and look at zion demeanor when he was going to the bench...

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Don't want to burst your bubble, but:

BI played 25:47
# 1 played 29:34

BI didn't touch the court in the 4th quarter; # 1 did.

By any measure, you are mistaken.

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Originally Posted by JJackisangry

Whatever we do, do not let the Kings settle. If they try to cheese us with the usual stack the paint nonsense, get them out of it quick. Go early in the shot clock, be aggressive and force them to either collapse or switch strategies.

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Same game plan as Monday. Feed Jonas and make Sabonis work; pressure Fox from baseline to baseline for the entire game. They've nothing else that can beat us.

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Originally Posted by As I See It

Don't want to burst your bubble, but:

BI played 25:47
# 1 played 29:34

BI didn't touch the court in the 4th quarter; # 1 did.

By any measure, you are mistaken.

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my fault,,i should have been clear in my reply.....in replying to your risking a injury to zion,,,i should have said that ingram played alot of mins after he injured his knee in the 1st and imo the team didnt seem like they were concerned about it so zion playing a min more to get 30pts , i wouldnt think that it would have been a problem...

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Originally Posted by 6warddude

my fault,,i should have been clear in my reply.....in replying to your risking a injury to zion,,,i should have said that ingram played alot of mins after he injured his knee in the 1st and imo the team didnt seem like they were concerned about it so zion playing a min more to get 30pts , i wouldnt think that it would have been a problem...

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Got it!! Personally, I wouldn't play either when once a victory is insured. There's too much missed time (by both) to risk additional injury for a couple of extra points in the box score...but that's me.

Ask the 76'ers fans if Joel Embiid should have been in the game in the fourth quarter during a 30 point blowout against the Raptors when he broke his Orbital Bone in the playoffs a couple of years ago.

Different sport but:

Willie Fritz continued to play Michael Pratt deep into the fourth quarter a game easily in hand against South Alabama and it cost him dearly as Pratt got hurt. Pratt couldn't go the next week against Ole Miss...the biggest game of the season...and Tulane suffered its lone loss of the season.

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Originally Posted by As I See It

Got it!! Personally, I wouldn't play either when once a victory is insured. There's too much missed time (by both) to risk additional injury for a couple of extra points in the box score...but that's me.

Ask the 76'ers fans if Joel Embiid should have been in the game in the fourth quarter during a 30 point blowout against the Raptors when he broke his Orbital Bone in the playoffs a couple of years ago.

Different sport but:

Willie Fritz continued to play Michael Pratt deep into the fourth quarter a game easily in hand against South Alabama and it cost him dearly as Pratt got hurt. Pratt couldn't go the next week against Ole Miss...the biggest game of the season...and Tulane suffered its lone loss of the season.

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im with pulling stars but sitting there and watching zion, imo he wanted to match ingram 30 and im thinking that in 2 more possessions that he would have scored 4 points because the kings at that point just would have let him.....

again im with pulling players when its out of hand...now remember that the game was over in the 3rd and zion played in the 4th and got took out at the 8min mark so im thinking that he was trying to get 30 also because they could have taken zion out before the 8min mark...

Larry Nance Jr. is available tonight vs. Kings. Willie Green said Jose Alvarado will remain on a minute restriction in his second game back from injury. Alvarado logged 15 minutes Monday vs. Kings

— Jim Eichenhofer (@Jim_Eichenhofer) November 22, 2023

I hope BI spitting up in the corner becomes more common. Good dish by Z

Stop gambling....stick to the fundamentals defensively!!! The TO's will come.

A lot of this offense actually looks good, we're just missing good shots. Gotta stick to it, can't allow process to break.

Dices finishing is looking much more consistent as are his free throws. Looks like something clicked

I love great defense. Simply love it.

I was a bit worried about this lineup but they’re looking good

DD and Jose' are giving Fox fits.

Jose with big impact, good to see.

This is what I like, when the team doesn't panic despite missing shots and is able to keep creating good opportunities and pressuring the opposition. It leads to success.

Frankly, the amount of PoA pressure we can put on other teams with Herb, Dyson, Jose, and even Naji, is unfair. Guys just get bullied.

So Nance has come back in and Willie goes back to ignoring Jonas?

Is Jonas back in the outhouse again?

Larry has started well. Maybe the competition from Zeller is lighting a fire under his butt

Nice

I’d like to see a healthy dose of Zion - BI action to close the half

Team's just competing really hard. There are nitpicks that can be made for various players, but overall the team play has just been really solid.

The rest of the half should belong to # 1 because Sabonis has three fouls.

Kings have zero answers for Zion

Pels up 14 at half time.

Do more of that, guys.

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Originally Posted by As I See It

The rest of the half should belong to # 1 because Sabonis has three fouls.

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I called it and they did it.

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Originally Posted by Freyfamilyreuni

Kings have zero answers for Zion

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Said it last game, I'll repeat myself tonight: keep doing it until they stop you. No reason for him not to have 30 tonight unless they completely scheme around it, and if they do that, then everyone else should kill them for it.

If I did the math right, Zion has a True Shooting Percentage of 84% in the first half.

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Originally Posted by johnpagenola

If I did the math right, Zion has a True Shooting Percentage of 84% in the first half.

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And we have shown zero interest in going back to him in the 3rd thus far

Yea but Zion needs to be a bit more selfish. He’s trying to get Dyson and Herb going offensively and it’s not working.

Refs need to call these fouls BIs getting hit with.

Herb had it clean if Zeller hadn’t gotten involved

Cmon Zion

I’ll take a push in the 3rd

I thought that was a terrible quarter offensively and we still got a push. You can beat good offense; you can't beat good defense though.

Hurry back Trey

Lack of shooting finally catching up with this lineup

Love the guy, but tonight, Herb is sucking eggs.

Tough when both Herb and Dyson are ice cold

Need BI in for the rest of the 4th if possible

Don’t need that fro BI though

How’s that not a foul

Doesn't look like the big guy is too happy about coming out.

Sure seems like Zion isn't getting the same calls at the rim that Sabonis is getting.

We’re just not going to get a call