March 12th - New Orleans Pelicans VS Milwaukee Bucks - 30-39

Coming off a loss last game to one of the league's worst teams in the Atlanta Hawks, we encounter one of the league's best teams, in the Milwaukee Bucks. The Bucks currently have the best record in the NBA: an awesome 50-17. Giannis is my MVP, at the moment, because he is leading this team to this success and averaging 27/12/6. What astounds me about this is the fact that Giannis, despite having a fantastic year, is still not being as statistically dominant as AD was when he was getting full minutes (averaging 29.5/13.3/4.5).

It's interesting, then, to think as to why Giannis' numbers are translating to much more regular wins than AD's were. At first, poisoned by the media, my brain wondered if it was a case of AD not getting the help Giannis does. To an extent, that's true: Giannis doesn't have another 20 point scorer on his team, while we have two in Jrue and Julius. But then, after a brief moment, it hit me.

There are two reasons the Bucks are better than us this season, and two reasons only.

1) Coaching - The Bucks are coached by Mike Budenholzer, and he is good. He has his flaws, as every coach does, but unlike Gentry, Budenholzer is able to construct schemes and approaches to the game that his players are consistently able to execute to a high standard, and his rotations largely make sense. It's even debatable whether Gentry's ability to construct an offense is currently better than Budenholzer's, as the Bucks hold the 3rd best ORTG in the league: better than ours, which is 5th.

2) Effort - The Bucks play hard. This effort is largely led by Giannis, who does not have nearly as many as the dull spots that AD has in his game. I am of the opinion that when AD is playing, fully engaged, he is the best player in the league with no exceptions. Unfortunately, that happens only maybe 60% of the time. The rest of the time, AD can be disengaged, or listless, or disinterested. Giannis doesn't do this: he plays fully engaged maybe 90% of the time, and it shows. Particularly on defense. Is the Bucks roster more defensively gifted than ours? Maybe, but not by much: AD, again when engaged, is a DPOY candidate, and Jrue is the best defensive guard in the league. Moore is a decent defender the majority of the time. So why do the Bucks click and we don't? Effort. They play hard on both ends, and thats why they have 50 wins and are looking at a finals trip, and we have 30 and are hoping for the lottery.

So let's go into this game, show off the young guys as much as possible, hope for a 3rd 20 pointgame from Frank, and just enjoy the show. No expectations of winning.

Let's go and #DoItBig!

Ugly offense so far early. Everything is going throguh Randle, and he's not making shots. Looks forced.

Can't say I like it when it's been 4 minutes of the game and only two people have taken shots.

Good signs here, some more people taking shots which opens up space a little for Randle, so a couple are dropping. Good to see Frank firing early.

Payton has 4/4/3 early, hit both his shots. Triple double alert.

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

Coming off a loss last game to one of the league's worst teams in the Atlanta Hawks, we encounter one of the league's best teams, in the Milwaukee Bucks. The Bucks currently have the best record in the NBA: an awesome 50-17. Giannis is my MVP, at the moment, because he is leading this team to this success and averaging 27/12/6. What astounds me about this is the fact that Giannis, despite having a fantastic year, is still not being as statistically dominant as AD was when he was getting full minutes (averaging 29.5/13.3/4.5).

It's interesting, then, to think as to why Giannis' numbers are translating to much more regular wins than AD's were. At first, poisoned by the media, my brain wondered if it was a case of AD not getting the help Giannis does. To an extent, that's true: Giannis doesn't have another 20 point scorer on his team, while we have two in Jrue and Julius. But then, after a brief moment, it hit me.

There are two reasons the Bucks are better than us this season, and two reasons only.

1) Coaching - The Bucks are coached by Mike Budenholzer, and he is good. He has his flaws, as every coach does, but unlike Gentry, Budenholzer is able to construct schemes and approaches to the game that his players are consistently able to execute to a high standard, and his rotations largely make sense. It's even debatable whether Gentry's ability to construct an offense is currently better than Budenholzer's, as the Bucks hold the 3rd best ORTG in the league: better than ours, which is 5th.

2) Effort - The Bucks play hard. This effort is largely led by Giannis, who does not have nearly as many as the dull spots that AD has in his game. I am of the opinion that when AD is playing, fully engaged, he is the best player in the league with no exceptions. Unfortunately, that happens only maybe 60% of the time. The rest of the time, AD can be disengaged, or listless, or disinterested. Giannis doesn't do this: he plays fully engaged maybe 90% of the time, and it shows. Particularly on defense. Is the Bucks roster more defensively gifted than ours? Maybe, but not by much: AD, again when engaged, is a DPOY candidate, and Jrue is the best defensive guard in the league. Moore is a decent defender the majority of the time. So why do the Bucks click and we don't? Effort. They play hard on both ends, and thats why they have 50 wins and are looking at a finals trip, and we have 30 and are hoping for the lottery.

So let's go into this game, show off the young guys as much as possible, hope for a 3rd 20 pointgame from Frank, and just enjoy the show. No expectations of winning.

Let's go and #DoItBig!

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I am a firm believer in that the best player sets the tone for the rest of the team. Giannis sets the tone for the Bucks with his effort and insane ability. This is why the team looked so much better when AD was out and Jrue was leading the team. Jrue was setting the tone. AD is not a natural leader. Leadership is innate in some people. Others can learn to be effective leaders. Some people are just not very good at it and will not be able to be the type pf leader capable of doing great things. AD ain't that guy

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Originally Posted by P_B_&_G

I am a firm believer in that the best player sets the tone for the rest of the team. Giannis sets the tone for the Bucks with his effort and insane ability. This is why the team looked so much better when AD was out and Jrue was leading the team. Jrue was setting the tone. AD is not a natural leader. Leadership is innate in some people. Others can learn to be effective leaders. Some people are just not very good at it and will not be able to be the type pf leader capable of doing great things. AD ain't that guy

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I'm not sure I entirely agree with your views on leadership overall, but I do agree in regards to this specific team. We aren't massively talented through a deep bench, and we don't have an incredible coach, so we do need leadership on court. AD can do that, and we've seen him do it in the past, but it isn't the kind of thing he seems to be very interested in most of the time, and that's why Jrue, who is a natural leader, does so well.

Reminds me of that article someone wrote. Jrue is the Tim Duncan of Allen Iversons.

Payton has 6/9/4 right now. Wow, he is going after the boards.

23-23 after one. 0 points from AD. Payton has been going hard. Randle has been shooting a lot, and he leads us in points, but it's a shame to see him be so thoroughly out-rebounded by a half-engaged AD and a 6'3 guard.

No flames from Frank yet.

Good to see Niko, looking much more bearded than he was here. He was very nice about us on Twitter.

JASON SMITH ALERT.

I swear if AD just injured himself like a moron, I'll be so mad.

Bad night for Frank so far. His shot just won't fall.

The whole team is shooting like garbage.

Notable examples: Frank is 5 of 13, Randle is 1 of 5 from deep, Clark is 1 of 5 overall, and AD is 2 of 7

Haltime, we're down 56-48, and lucky it's not more. If Giannis wasn't in foul trouble, we'd be down 20.

Why isn't Diallo playing? DNP-CD?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Austin Rivers

Why isn't Diallo playing? DNP-CD?

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Must be, he's not on the injury report.

#Pelicans injury report - 3.12 vs. MIL: pic.twitter.com/mhkJnvb4fz

— Pelicans PR (@PelicansPR) March 11, 2019

Glad to see Randle facilitating a little here, his shots weren't going with regularity and he wasn't getting the calls he usually does to bail him out at the line. Good to see him go to passing a little more.

Jackson is 0-6 from deep, which is bad to see, but his defense has actually been pretty good. He guarded a Middleton drive where he was super undersized pretty admirably.

Jackson has spent most of this game guarding Eric Bledsoe. Bledsoe is 4 for 13.

If Jackson can even pick up 60% of Jrue's defensive lessons, then he'll be a formidable guard.

AD has 17 in the third.

He's so damn good when he tries. I hate him.

The fact that Gentry gave Jason Smith minutes in this game before Diallo is an absolute crime.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

I'm not sure I entirely agree with your views on leadership overall, but I do agree in regards to this specific team. We aren't massively talented through a deep bench, and we don't have an incredible coach, so we do need leadership on court. AD can do that, and we've seen him do it in the past, but it isn't the kind of thing he seems to be very interested in most of the time, and that's why Jrue, who is a natural leader, does so well.

Reminds me of that article someone wrote. Jrue is the Tim Duncan of Allen Iversons.

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Looks like we agree. AD could be that guy if we could bottle Diallo's motor and infuse into AD's gatorade or something. Jrue just does it and people follow. Ad can do it but doesn't do it all the time. He might get there eventually though but it might not happen while he's still playing basketball.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

The fact that Gentry gave Jason Smith minutes in this game before Diallo is an absolute crime.

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He's taking the tank to heart and new levels. He may be working on next years tank already!

Diallo legitimately has a little 12 footer now. So awesome to see.

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Originally Posted by P_B_&_G

He's taking the tank to heart and new levels. He may be working on next years tank already!

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Diallo got in finally. He's played 5 minutes, and has 9 points and 3 boards on 4/4 shooting.

Really like Diallo.

Payton has another triple double!!

11/14/10!

Miller is lighting it up, he's 3 of 4 from deep

Man if this team could shoot.

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Originally Posted by AUSSIE_PELICAN

Man if this team could shoot.

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8 of 41 from deep :(

Putting more distance between us and some of the other teams in the league with this loss. We take a loss, LA wins, we tie Washington for 8th in the loss column.

Glad to see Frank finally sink a deep one tonight. Hate to see him go 0-for

Alvin gets the tech!

End of the game, we lost 130-113, securing our 40th loss of the year.

Statlines:

Julius Randle: 23/6/4 in 36 minutes
AD: 21/12/2 in 21 minutes
Payton: 14/15/11 in 34 minutes
Frank: 14 points in 33 minutes, but the refs stole a totally valid three from him so really it's 17 points
Diallo: 11 points, 5 rebounds in 14 minutes

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

Alvin gets the tank win!

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:cool:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

Diallo legitimately has a little 12 footer now. So awesome to see.

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Context is important, hehe

Quote:

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Originally Posted by P_B_&_G

Context is important, hehe

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:idoh:

Diallo has a 12 foot jump shot* now.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

:idoh:

Diallo has a 12 foot jump shot* now.

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LOL, I need to make jokes with the current situation the team is in. Thanks AD!