April 9th - New Orleans Pelicans VS Philadelphia 76ers - 22-29

Made it to Friday 🙌
Get your weekend started with #PelicansGameday!

🏀 vs. Philadelphia
🕖 7 p.m. CT
📺 @BallySportsNO
📻 100.3 FM @ESPNRadioNOLA @SmoothieKing | #WontBowDown pic.twitter.com/u8y8PuB5zl

— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) April 9, 2021

Next game up. Here's the injury report:

Pelicans:
- Brandon Ingram (questionable)
- Kira Lewis (questionable)
- Lonzo Ball (questionable)
- N. Alexander Walker (out)
- Josh Hart (Out)

Sixers:
- George Hill (out)

The Sixers are currently 35-16, good for second seed in the East, and have done so behind the 2nd best defense in the league and the 13th best offense. Joel Embiid is a top 5 MVP candidate this year (though I don't think he is the favourite at all) and Ben Simmons is in the DPOY conversation. This game is going to be difficult at best and a complete impossibility at worst.

Let's find out what happens.

This should be a loss. Then again we did beat the Jazz at home.

We lose tonight... We tied for 9th lottery odds.

If we can end 6th-8th. I'd be pretty ecstatic

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Taker597

We lose tonight... We tied for 9th lottery odds.

If we can end 6th-8th. I'd be pretty ecstatic

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I just want one or the other. If we make playoffs, great. If we can suck the rest of the year and get a high pick, even better. I?d prefer not to be caught in between per usual

I can?t see us continuing to suck so hard once everyone is back though. NAW will be a pretty big miss though

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Taker597

We lose tonight... We tied for 9th lottery odds.

If we can end 6th-8th. I'd be pretty ecstatic

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6th in the lottery odds gives you a 9% chance at the #1 pick.

Zion + Cade pls.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

6th in the lottery odds gives you a 9% chance at the #1 pick.

Zion + Cade pls.

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It's has a pretty chaotic odd for the top 3 as well.

The Embiid v Adams matchup tonight will be telling.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Taker597

It's has a pretty chaotic odd for the top 3 as well.

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The flattened odds really help out those middle-lottery teams, honestly. It does deter tanking a fair bit because you can't just get the worst record anymore and guarantee the best pick. Even the worst record in the league (Minnesota, right now) only has a 52% chance of finishing with a top 4 pick.

6th has a 37% chance of finishing top 4.

So being the worst record in the NBA only gets you a 15% better odds at the #1 pick than does being the 6th worst record in the NBA. 15% is a lot but it's not a lot, you know? No real incentive to be the worst anymore, just incentive to be bad generally.

SVG: Brandon Ingram and Kira Lewis will play.

Lonzo Ball will not play.

— Andrew Lopez (@_Andrew_Lopez) April 9, 2021

No Lonzo but Ingram and Kira are back!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

SVG: Brandon Ingram and Kira Lewis will play.

Lonzo Ball will not play.

— Andrew Lopez (@_Andrew_Lopez) April 9, 2021

No Lonzo but Ingram and Kira are back!

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*Sigh*

Here comes the 13th lottery pick...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Taker597

*Sigh*

Here comes the 13th lottery pick...

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I hate gravity

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

SVG: Brandon Ingram and Kira Lewis will play.

Lonzo Ball will not play.

— Andrew Lopez (@_Andrew_Lopez) April 9, 2021

No Lonzo but Ingram and Kira are back!

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No shot at you, you are an incredible poster, but I'm mad right now for some reason so with that in mind...


Enjoy mediocrity with this team.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Silverfoxx

I hate gravity

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After the last ten years of playing for 6th-14th lottery odds with some lucky lottery wins and two playoff berth. You'd think maybe being stuck on the mediocrity treadmill would get old. Outside of winning the lottery... We've haven't posted a worse lottery standing than 6th in I think since Chris Paul.

It just like insanity with this franchise. I get certain bad teams stay bad regardless of picks, but man... It's annoying how great this draft class is and we are dogging out for Ws that only hurt us. It's just frustrating. We'll get our one in 5 years playoff berth, but I want more.

Since when does having the 13th pick, with young promising players like Kira, Zion, BI, Jax, and NAW ever meant "mediocrity"? All 5 of them need to dominate the league immediately?

Makes no sense.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Taker597

*Sigh*

Here comes the 13th lottery pick...

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You say that, but even if we had the entire team healthy and ready for 40 minutes that's no guarantee of beating this Sixers squad. They are very good.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Taker597

*Sigh*

Here comes the 13th lottery pick...

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Ingram need more experience. Didn’t you know:hihi:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Silverfoxx

No shot at you, you are an incredible poster, but I'm mad right now for some reason so with that in mind...


Enjoy mediocrity with this team.

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Trust the process

Quote:

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Originally Posted by luckyman

Since when does having the 13th pick, with young promising players like Kira, Zion, BI, Jax, and NAW ever meant "mediocrity"? All 5 of them need to dominate the league immediately?

Makes no sense.

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I think people are just annoyed by how infrequently we find ourselves at the top of the lottery despite never really making any playoff impact.

Like, if you look at some other teams which have had very little playoff success (or none, even) over the last decade and look at how often they've made top 3 or top 5 picks:

- Sixers: made the playoffs 0 times in the 5 years between 2012 and 2017, but picked in the top 5 a total of 4 times, including two #1 picks
- Lakers: made the playoffs 0 times in the 6 years between 2013 and 2019, but picked in the top 5 a total of 3 times, with three consecutive #2 picks

And those teams being high profile in the media and their high picks being big names means that people have that kind of draft record in mind for teams that made no playoff noise.

In reality, our situation (missing the playoffs a lot, but not really drafting high that often) isn't too unusual. The Bulls, for example, have only made the playoffs once in the last 6 years and in all 5 of those non-playoff years they've only had one top 5 pick and no picks in the top 3.

Pelicans Starters:

Eric Bledsoe
Naji Marshall
Brandon Ingram
Zion Williamson
Steven Adams

— Daniel Sallerson (@dsallerson) April 9, 2021

We would rather start Naji Marshall than Kira lmao

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

I think people are just annoyed by how infrequently we find ourselves at the top of the lottery despite never really making any playoff impact.

Like, if you look at some other teams which have had very little playoff success (or none, even) over the last decade and look at how often they've made top 3 or top 5 picks:

- Sixers: made the playoffs 0 times in the 5 years between 2012 and 2017, but picked in the top 5 a total of 4 times, including two #1 picks
- Lakers: made the playoffs 0 times in the 6 years between 2013 and 2019, but picked in the top 5 a total of 3 times, with three consecutive #2 picks

And those teams being high profile in the media and their high picks being big names means that people have that kind of draft record in mind for teams that made no playoff noise.

In reality, our situation (missing the playoffs a lot, but not really drafting high that often) isn't too unusual. The Bulls, for example, have only made the playoffs once in the last 6 years and in all 5 of those non-playoff years they've only had one top 5 pick and no picks in the top 3.

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It's just the inherent frustration of this franchise operating the same way it always have for the last 15 years.

It's not even logical or even statistically favorable for us to tank. It's just frustration we consistently go hard for our once in 5 year playoff run and we go back on that low value lottery treadmill again.

It's already been 3 season since our last playoffs. For it feels like we are on course to do what we always do. Get our hopes up and disappoint. Probably won't be next year, because FA is weak and rookie we obtain would probably not be able to crack minutes for 2 months. Then, we'll end up at 11-18 again and tread water.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 13 - 3

Ingram need more experience. Didn’t you know:hihi:

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He's a veteran? PR twilight zone again?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

I think people are just annoyed by how infrequently we find ourselves at the top of the lottery despite never really making any playoff impact.

Like, if you look at some other teams which have had very little playoff success (or none, even) over the last decade and look at how often they've made top 3 or top 5 picks:

- Sixers: made the playoffs 0 times in the 5 years between 2012 and 2017, but picked in the top 5 a total of 4 times, including two #1 picks
- Lakers: made the playoffs 0 times in the 6 years between 2013 and 2019, but picked in the top 5 a total of 3 times, with three consecutive #2 picks

And those teams being high profile in the media and their high picks being big names means that people have that kind of draft record in mind for teams that made no playoff noise.

In reality, our situation (missing the playoffs a lot, but not really drafting high that often) isn't too unusual. The Bulls, for example, have only made the playoffs once in the last 6 years and in all 5 of those non-playoff years they've only had one top 5 pick and no picks in the top 3.

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None of those teams had rookies as dominant as Zion already paired with an all star. A young all-star.

So with that in mind, clear as day, it's just immature fans that say they want to build slowly but actually don't.

Never mind all the high profile 13th picks that have helped Utah, Phoenix, Miami, and soon to be Chicago get to where they are. Kelly Olynyk and Markeiff Morris haven't turned out to bad either.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by luckyman

None of those teams had rookies as dominant as Zion already paired with an all star. A young all-star.

So with that in mind, clear as day, it's just immature fans that say they want to build slowly but actually don't.

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Well sure, I never said it made logical sense to think that way. I just explained why some people do, so far as I can tell.

That blown layup... Naji... Pls...

Great deflection from Zion but Danny Green ends up with it elsewhere and hits the shot

Lol at how easily Zion is shredding the 3rd best defense in the league right now

They'll make adjustments but for now it's funny

As a side note, really solid performance by Adams on Embiid so far

No one can guard him individually. But they’ll adjust how to slide over and create a wall.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Eman5805

No one can guard him individually. But they’ll adjust how to slide over and create a wall.

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Fat lot of good that's done every other team that's tried it

Bledsoe is so unbelievably unimpressive as a decision maker

Pelicans not named Zion so far: 8pts on 4/14 shooting
Zion so far: 8pts on 3/5 shooting

okay.

If nothing else, H'Gomez is a rebounding machine.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

Pelicans not named Zion so far: 8pts on 4/14 shooting
Zion so far: 8pts on 3/5 shooting

okay.

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It's amazing what BI does for his game, huh?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by As I See It

It's amazing what BI does for his game, huh?

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Ingram needs to settle down a little, tho.

Our bigs and rebounding just giving them fits. Lol

JAXSON has eight points (3/3; 2/3) and three boards in five minutes playing the 4.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Taker597

Our bigs and rebounding just giving them fits. Lol

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We have a good rebounding team!

Finally made a 3. Woah. Glad that dry spell is over.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

We have a good rebounding team!

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We are 3rd overall the last time I looked. I love it. One of my most enjoyable surprise of the season.

Really hope Ingram can start clicking in the second half. He's 1/8 from the floor right now with 0 assists. Shake off that rust buddy

Ingram needs to settle in his underrated facilitator/play calling role with his shot not falling and go for the rim. First time in a long while he hasn't registered an assist in a half.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Taker597

Ingram needs to settle in his underrated facilitator/play calling role with his shot not falling and go for the rim. First time in a long while he hasn't registered an assist in a half.

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1/11 from the floor with 0 assists is rough however you slice it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

1/11 from the floor with 0 assists is rough however you slice it.

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As I as tying that he went from 1-8 to 1-11... *sigh* lol

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Taker597

As I as tying that he went from 1-8 to 1-11... *sigh* lol

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The shot selection has not been nice. He just tried an off-the dribble fadeaway FT line jumper with two guys lying all over him. The only reason it didn't go up is that it got stolen :hihi:

Just a really poor choice of shot. He feels like he's trying to force it right now.

It reminded me of playing 2K when an animation gets predetermined and there's nothing you can do about it. https://t.co/XZ00VSr7sc

— Andrew Lopez (@_Andrew_Lopez) April 10, 2021

We win a challenge... What wizardary is this...

Meanwhile, Zach Lavine is up to 39 points on 13/19 shooting at the half for Chicago. He's 7/9 from 3.

Flamethrower night. He's on pace for 78 points.

Ingram hits his second shot of the night, and the second 3 for the team overall

At the half, Zion leads the team in points (17) rebounds (8) and assists (4)

Really would like it if we ran some stuff to try and get Ingram some easy open looks. He's 2/12 right now, which is no fun.

Both teams looking a bit stagnant

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

Meanwhile, Zach Lavine is up to 39 points on 13/19 shooting at the half for Chicago. He's 7/9 from 3.

Flamethrower night. He's on pace for 78 points.

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Was he ever available for a trade in the off season or was that media speculation?