28th February - New Orleans Pelicans VS Cleveland Cavaliers - 25-33

Welcome back to game day! We lost last time out, but it's no huge surprise; we were on the road against a really good team. It still sucks and is frustrating; the vast majority of the team played poorly, starters and bench, and even the players who did well (Ingram and Zion) didn't have their best showings in certain ways. But that's over; we move on. Tonight we take on the Cleveland Cavaliers at home in New Orleans.

TIP OFF IS CURRENTLY LISTED AS 7PM CST

Injury Report: It's currently the same as it's been for ages now. Kenrich and Miller are no-gos, everyone else is full fire. I didn't include the link because it takes up a lot of space in the OP, and I wanted to leave a bit of room for this update regarding the Cavs injury report.

#Cavs have Andre Drummond (left calf strain), Dante Exum (left ankle sprain) and Alfonzo McKinnie (plantar fasciitis) all as OUT for tomorrow’s game against the Pelicans.

— Kelsey Russo (@kelseyyrusso) February 28, 2020

I don't want to give too much information on the Cavs in general because they've had some big changes with regards to both roster and coaching staff. It's not too helpful for me to give their season stats when there's so much that's different.

That said, I will discuss their last few games a little bit. Despite being terrible overall, the Cavs have won 4 of their last 5 games. Two of them make sense; Hawks and Wizards. Bad teams beating bad teams. But their last 2 wins were against Miami and Philadelphia, and while neither of those teams are the top teams in the league like LAL, LAC, or MIL, they are both solid playoff teams. So this isn't the kind of game where we should walk in and expect the Cavaliers to just lay down for us.

That said, we shouldn't need them to lay down, because this team is good enough, if they're playing properly. They shouldn't need to lay down because we should put them down. We are capable; so that's what we should do. With only Tristan Thompson on the inside, who is also undersized, Zion should be able to just annihilate the basket all night.

So let's go. #WBD.

Gentry said that Kenrich went through a full workout.
Did he come up sore?

We need this game badly. Portland faltered last night and Memphis is hurt. Winning tonight would put us in sole possession of 9th and breathing down Memphis's backside.

Hopefully the boys take care of buisness tonight.

This game is a MUST win for us!

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Originally Posted by AUSSIE_PELICAN

Gentry said that Kenrich went through a full workout.
Did he come up sore?

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No idea. It's possible, and it's also possible that they're just taking it slow. Or maybe he'll be available to play but the decision wasn't made in time before the injury report got put out. It's all very up in the air.

Let's say he were healthy, what would he be seeing, anyways? I just don't see him taking minutes from the starters, Hart, Melli, or JJ. So in the last few games Moore has gotten like 8 mins.....would Kenrich get some minutes over Moore? I dunno. Depends on if we are needing vet smoothness or Kenny Hustle, I suppose.

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Originally Posted by msusousaphone

Let's say he were healthy, what would he be seeing, anyways? I just don't see him taking minutes from the starters, Hart, Melli, or JJ. So in the last few games Moore has gotten like 8 mins.....would Kenrich get some minutes over Moore? I dunno. Depends on if we are needing vet smoothness or Kenny Hustle, I suppose.

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Yeah I think he's a situational guy. Some games he will play, other games he'll ride the pine, all depending on what the moment calls for and the matchups we have.

Zion’s new 34s tonight: pic.twitter.com/ObcDVq417i

— Andrew Lopez (@_Andrew_Lopez) February 29, 2020

Well, that's certainly a choice.

Do we know if we are getting FRO JRUE or bad Jrue tonight?

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

Zion’s new 34s tonight: pic.twitter.com/ObcDVq417i

— Andrew Lopez (@_Andrew_Lopez) February 29, 2020

Well, that's certainly a choice.

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He's such a Beast that his shoes have fur.

If Zion scores 20 tonight, his 10 straight games of at least 20 points would tie Donovan Mitchell and Joel Embiid for the longest such rookie scoring streaks since 2013.

If he scores 25 or more, it will be his 6th game of at least 25 in a row; this will be the all-time longest such scoring streak for a teenager.

what a pass

Lonzo to Zion in transition

Zion just puts Tristan Thompson on his heels and scores with ease.

Should be all night.

Another near full court transition pass from Lonzo to Zion.

Cavs cannot guard that right now

We are legit looking like a half of hte playoff seeding team at moments. Just give this team experience and we're dangerous.

Ingram misses the shot, Favors taps the offensive board to Zion, another bucket.

Zion has 8 points on 4/4 shooting so far.

Lonzo to Jrue in transition here.

He's got his outlet passing on point right now

Great sequence, Ingram doing his best to stay on Porter (not doing a great job of it but the effort was there), then Zion gets the steal, pass to Jrue who finishes in transition. Nice.

Jrue to Zion

Jrue strips Sexton but in transition, Ingram makes a great pass to Lonzo. Lonzo, within 3 feet of the basket, chooses to pass out rather than finish it and throws it away.

Lonzo. YOU ARE ALLOWED. TO MAKE BASKETS. AT THE RIM.

Jesus Christ. I hate this feeling. Zion goes up and I don't get excited. I see him come down with one leg aiming straight down and I cringe in fear.

Sexton just died on a Thompson screen.

Yes, his own screen.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Eman5805

Jesus Christ. I hate this feeling. Zion goes up and I don't get excited. I see him come down with one leg aiming straight down and I cringe in fear.

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Yeah that charge was well outside the circle. Those are always dangerous looking moments.

Not really sure what defense Lonzo thought he was playing on Nance there. Mismatch though so it's hard to complain too much

Jrue bucket

Lonzo steps into a 3. He's having a really nice game so far, overall.

It feels good watching us SMASH a bad team. They not letting them hang around at all

Can't really complain so far. Everyone seems to be doing their jobs for the most part.

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Originally Posted by Excelsior88

Can't really complain so far. Everyone seems to be doing their jobs for the most part.

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For real. There's been an odd moment here and there but overall we're playing really well and dominating a bad team, exactly like we're supposed to

Try to keep up with all that movement �� pic.twitter.com/jO3bZdxEYW

— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) February 29, 2020

Delly's jumper looks so difficult. He puts so much effort into it, looks like it would give him RSI

JAX LOB

Ingram dunk!

They can't defend

Difficult finish for Jrue over good defense, finishing well

Melli looking very indecisive there. No fun.

Nice to see us not playing down to the level of competition.. Great passing from Zo so far.

43 points in the 1st. Nice!

Jrue with a filthy crossover and offhand finish around Nance. Yikes, ridiculousness

If Jrue could only do this against good teams..... but he won’t. Real shame!

About as good a 1st quarter as you can have.

Zo and Ingram dominated that quarter. We’re getting better and better each week.

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Originally Posted by HartOfaPelican

If Jrue could only do this against good teams..... but he won’t. Real shame!

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Not everyone can be Bradley Beal.

43-25 after the first quarter.

Jrue has 11, BI and Zion both have 10 already.

Let's go.

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Originally Posted by Eman5805

About as good a 1st quarter as you can have.

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This is what good teams do to bad teams. It's refreshing to see.

Great first quarter guys. Don't stop.

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Originally Posted by Chris

This is what good teams do to bad teams. It's refreshing to see.

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We are a good team. I feel comfortable in that knowledge now.

Every time I feel like "If this were a good team, we'd start pulling away." Or "A good team would answer that run with a run of our own."

We've consistently done it since that 13 game losing streak/when Favors came back. Doubly so since we achieved Zion.

Bad start to this quarter.

Exactly what this game needed; E'twaun Moore iso plays :hihi: