April 24th - New Orleans Pelicans vs Phoenix Suns - GAME 4 - 1-2

time to work 💪

🏀 vs Suns
🕣: 8:30 pm CT
📺: @BallySportsNO | @NBAonTNT
📻: @ESPNRadioNOLA#OneNOLA | @SmoothieKing pic.twitter.com/VIHBlAnKiW

— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) April 24, 2022

Lost last game for various reasons, many of them completely unavoidable. If we want to still maintain pressure then this becomes a must win game. Can't afford to drop this one too.

Let's see how the team responds.

How do we handle Chris Paul?


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Originally Posted by pelicanchamp

How do we handle Chris Paul?


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We give him the keys in the 4th.

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Originally Posted by pelicanchamp

How do we handle Chris Paul?


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let jax switch on him in the high screen and hope jonas keep ayton out of the paint for easy points....push the pace and wear him down if they plan on playing him 40mins tonight.....when they hide him on defense to guard jax then jax has to go in the paint and demand the ball or someone has to see that mismatch and set the play up for jax to attack paul....

these things should get him in foul trouble,,wear him out and disrupt his flow to getting the ball to ayton and mcgee for some easy points

Trey got to close the game.

My main adjustments from last game would be fairly simple, I think:

- Start Trey instead of Jax. He has the length and defensive awareness to play that 4 position against a team like Phoenix which isn't exactly made up of bruising PFs, but he also presents way more offensive threat than Jax and should hopefully help limit the slow starts we've had in the last few games. Lineups of Trey with the other starters have been stellar in all 5 playoff/play in games so far, leverage that.

- Trap CP3 in the second half, hard. I'd perhaps try to avoid using Herb as the primary defender just because if you trap CP3 hard and all your best defenders are on him directly he'll pick you apart with passes, but you could easily have a situation where Nance is the primary guy on CP3 with the trap coming elsewhere and then you have Herb defending a shooter. I trust Herb to cheat off and recovery enough to bother CP3 in case he breaks the trap with a dig or to stunt on to a roller if CP3 gets the pass off, but he also discourages the corner pass from CP3 and presents turnover opportunities. Whichever way you choose to do it, though, you have to do it: two games now which have been essentially lost due to CP3 deciding to just win the game single handedly and we've presented very very little resistance.

They have to make cp3 work early to get him tired... game 3 he was just setting up ayton and was letting him do all the work which conserved his energy which he then unleashed towards the end.

Every time CP calls for the pick up top (because he 100% of the time does) you blitz him and make him get rid of the ball. Rotate to close on shooters and hope for the best.

If you're gonna play him straight-up then I would go under the screens on PnR and make him shoot/hit 3s. That's not his game. Sure he has hit a few but that's not what he wants to do. As long as CP can turn the corner on the PnR you're at his mercy.

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Originally Posted by DroopyDawg

Every time CP calls for the pick up top (because he 100% of the time does) you blitz him and make him get rid of the ball. Rotate to close on shooters and hope for the best.

If you're gonna play him straight-up then I would go under the screens on PnR and make him shoot/hit 3s. That's not his game. Sure he has hit a few but that's not what he wants to do. As long as CP can turn the corner on the PnR you're at his mercy.

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We should try to defend him how we defended Lillard years ago. Double him when he gets to mid court and take the ball out of his hands. See if we can have any success doing that. He is just so good, we have to try something different.

Why is there no break between games 5 and 6?

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Originally Posted by AUSSIE_PELICAN

Why is there no break between games 5 and 6?

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Because it's the 1st round.

I would be surprised if the Suns win tonight. I feel it's going to be extremely difficult for either team to win back to back.

I do think unless CP3 gets banged up. It's Suns in 7.

I don't mind CJ leading the team in shot attempts...as long as he's hitting the majority of his shots. I hope he goes for 30+ again but, is more efficient in getting the 30+.

....AND MAKING HIS FREE THROWS!!!!

Also, he is probably tiring in the 4th quarter as he is averaging over 40 minutes a game.

If Chris Paul can play 37 mins a game, almost a min for every year old, CJ can keep at it. I mean, If he doesn't, he'll have all the time in the world to rest this offseason.

The key to stopping CP3 is by being up 30 heading into the 4th.

That's the deal for today, punch em hard, early.

Will be interesting to see if Willie makes any major changes to the starting 5 or rotation.

Love the age old sports tradition of starting every event 20 minutes after the stated start time.

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

Love the age old sports tradition of starting every event 20 minutes after the stated start time.

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Just to spite the Aussies... Jk. NBA always mad late. I never understood it

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Originally Posted by Taker597

Just to spite the Aussies... Jk. NBA always mad late. I never understood it

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Happens with boxing too, it's maddening.

Man... We need a new arena. It's like NBA players walking into a prison cafeteria

I need to see Jaxson step up here and make up for last game. Im talking help defense in the paint and movement on offense besides just hanging out at the 3 point line.

Unsurprised by unsure about starting with Jax, again. Means rotations and tactics must be different or thats the game.

I'm not in mood for CJ to not initiate offense

Much healthier offensive start, I must say

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

Unsurprised by unsure about starting with Jax, again. Means rotations and tactics must be different or thats the game.

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It was a tie game when Hayes got ejected with 5 1/2 minutes to go in the 2nd half. Then we ended the half down by double digits.

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Originally Posted by hornetsrebirth

It was a tie game when Hayes got ejected with 5 1/2 minutes to go in the 2nd half. Then we ended the half down by double digits.

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The starting lineup with Jax had been struggling hard to produce offense early for 5 straight games coming into tonight. It has nothing to do with overall game performance and everything to do with trying to maximise early offense in a must-win game. Trey lineups with the starters outperform Jax lineups with them in a bunch of major ways.