16th November - New Orleans Pelicans @ Miami Heat - 3-8

[Pelicanidae]

Despite being notably shorthanded, the New Orleans Pelicans won their third game of the season against the LA Clippers last game, behind a 36pt/6stl outing from Jrue Holiday and a 20/20 game from Derrick Favors. Big things, and great to see some of our major guys really showing up. Hopefully that's a sign that Favors is back fully healthy, and that Jrue has knocked the lid off this season.

Here's our Injury Report for this game:

Pelicans Injury report - 11/16 at MIA:
PROBABLE: B. Ingram (R Knee Soreness)
QUESTIONABLE: L. Ball (R Adductor Strain), J. Okafor (L Ankle Sprain), J. Redick (L Great Toe Sprain)
OUT: J. Hart (L Knee/Ankle Sprain), D. Miller (R Achilles Surgery), Z. Williamson (R Knee Scope)

— Pelicans PR (@PelicansPR) November 15, 2019

This means something pretty cool: Ingram will probably be back! Which is cool. We want him and the others (Lonzo, Hart, etc) to miss as few games as possible. Gotta get those sample sizes built up so we can evaluate them properly in as broad a context as possible. On the downside, we will miss Redick, who has been shooting lights out recently and contributing in a big way.

Luckily, for the second game in a row, we will also be facing a team that's shorthanded:

Justise Winslow, Derrick Jones Jr. and KZ Okpala are out for tonight's game vs. Pelicans.

Jimmy Butler and Goran Dragic are questionable because they are both sick.

— Anthony Chiang (@Anthony_Chiang) November 16, 2019

No Winslow (13/8/5) or Jones (7pts, 60%fg) is pretty good for us, but if they're also missing Butler and Dragic then this would be a prime opportunity for us to get another win in the record books and keep on that hill back up to .500. Butler is currently averaging 19 points, 5.5 rebounds. and 6.5 assists to go along with a league leading 2.8 steals per game, so losing him would be fairly significant, and Dragic is currently putting up 16pts/7asts with 42% from 3 point land, so losing him would be pretty impactful too. Let's hope that their tummy bugs are just a little too much for tonight, and they decide to sit this one out.

Overall the Miami Heat have the 17th ranked offense in the NBA, but the 3rd best defense. So our focus should really be on continuing our defensive improvement and trying to clamp down on that end, especially if they're missing their leading scorers in Butler and Dragic. They play with the league's 12th ranked pace, so while they aren't exactly snails, they aren't quite used to keeping up with our pace, so that should help us strain their offense even further but forcing them to push the defense.

The real point of exploitation in this game should be rebounds. Bam Adebayo is their leading rebounder, with 10.3 a game, but after him their 2nd and 3rd guys are Winslow and Butler: both of whom may be out. Even with both of those guys, Miami rank 26th in the NBA in rebounds per game: with Favors playing like he did in the Clippers game, this could easily be another big board night for him and that would help cut off the Heat's already poor offensive rebounding (25th in the NBA). They should not be getting second chance points tonight.

With all that in mind, this is a winnable game, and that would be huge for us to get up to 4-8. Every win matters at this early point in the season, and if we can take one away from a pretty good Heat team, on the road, that would be huge. Let's go out and get this win. #WBD

[Pelicanidae]

Also this game will be extra fun for me because I love watching Bam Adebayo play. He's a cool guy with extreme Energy.

He's averaging basically 14/10/5 this year with 1.5 steals and 1.5 blocks a game. A little foul prone, but not drastically so thus far, and he's just been extremely impactful. +20 Net rating, .213 WS/48, +6.0 BPM, currently posting a 21% assists percentage as a centre and averaging over 2% steals and 4% blocks at the same time. Just great stuff.

[Pelicanidae]

New Orleans has transferred two-way player Zylan Cheatham back to the Pelicans from the @ErieBayHawks of the @nbagleague

— Pelicans PR (@PelicansPR) November 16, 2019

[Fedupfan]

I can’t understand why they didn’t do this sooner. They been crying for length and defense. Cheatham is known for both. He’s a high energy player that could provide a spark similar to Kenny. I would see what Cheatham can do over Melli.

[Pelicanidae]

I can’t understand why they didn’t do this sooner. They been crying for length and defense. Cheatham is known for both. He’s a high energy player that could provide a spark similar to Kenny. I would see what Cheatham can do over Melli.

I wouldn't really compare him to Kenny because I don't think he has quite that level of basketball IQ (Kenny is a genius, basically) or feel, but yeah he's certainly an energetic player with length and athleticism, and on a team which has been short on hustle and burst at times, I don't see why he wouldn't be worth having as an option. And yeah, given how disappointing Melli has been thus far, it can't hurt to try him out instead.

[Fedupfan]

I wouldn't really compare him to Kenny because I don't think he has quite that level of basketball IQ (Kenny is a genius, basically) or feel, but yeah he's certainly an energetic player with length and athleticism, and on a team which has been short on hustle and burst at times, I don't see why he wouldn't be worth having as an option. And yeah, given how disappointing Melli has been thus far, it can't hurt to try him out instead.

Yeah the hustle part is all I meant. Kenny has the highest iq on the team. I meant just a guy that makes winning plays.

[Pelicanidae]

Pelicans injury updates - 11/16 at MIA:

Lonzo Ball (Right Adductor Strain), Jahlil Okafor (Left Ankle Sprain) and JJ Redick (Left Great Toe Sprain) have been downgraded to OUT.

Brandon Ingram (Right Knee Soreness) has been downgraded to QUESTIONABLE.

— Pelicans PR (@PelicansPR) November 16, 2019

Ingram has been downgraded from probable to questionable. So I guess maybe they're holding him out for the B2B, and maybe he'll play tomorrow? IDK

[Fedupfan]

Pelicans injury updates - 11/16 at MIA:

Lonzo Ball (Right Adductor Strain), Jahlil Okafor (Left Ankle Sprain) and JJ Redick (Left Great Toe Sprain) have been downgraded to OUT.

Brandon Ingram (Right Knee Soreness) has been downgraded to QUESTIONABLE.

— Pelicans PR (@PelicansPR) November 16, 2019

Ingram has been downgraded from probable to questionable. So I guess maybe they're holding him out for the B2B, and maybe he'll play tomorrow? IDK

Yeah they are going to hold all the guys that play today out tomorrow. Thats a good way to handle too much depth. Just rotate 5-6 injured players in and out each game. That way Alvin can stick to his plan of playing 9-10 bodies.

[Fedupfan]

Tomorrow’s starting lineup. Zo, Hart, BI, Melli, Jah

[Pelicanidae]

Golden State Warriors guard D’Angelo Russell will be sidelined for at least two weeks with a sprained right thumb.

— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) November 16, 2019

Just a heads up for tomorrow's game against Golden State.

- No Steph
- No Klay
- No D-Lo
- No Evans
- No Looney
- No Lee
- No Smailagic

Their active roster will be comprised of: Omari Spellman, Jordan Poole, Eric Paschall, Willie Cauley-Stein, Glen Robinson III, Alec Burks, Ky Bowman, Marquese Chriss, and Draymond Green.

That means if we win tonight, tomorrow should be very much in our favour. Win-streak?

[SoCal4Pels]

Gentry should start looking over his shoulder if we cannot beat that team tomorrow and BI plays....

[AUSSIE_PELICAN]

Miami have Winslow, Okpala and Jones Jr out.

Butler and Dragic are sick so 50/50.

Love another win.

[Pelicanidae]

Apparently, a fairly large reason that Miami's defensive efficiency is so high is because while they give up the most wide open 3s in the entire NBA (21% of all their shots allowed are 3s with at least 6 feet of space), for some random reason opponents are shooting barely 30% on those opportunities against Miami; league average on such shots is 37%.

So basically, they're benefiting from what is mostly luck in that respect: guys are getting wide open 3s at high high rates, just none of them are dropping.

Despite our struggles, we are currently 6th in the NBA in 3pt%, and 2nd in made threes per game (14.7).

If we can keep that up tonight, we should have a big advantage from behind the arc. Frank is currently shooting 50% from the corners, and Kenrich is also shooting about 47% from the corners.

It's a big shame that Redick is going to be out for this one, because he's been on fire lately and this kind of matchup seems very optimal for him.

[Pelicanidae]

Heat Head Coach Erik Spoelstra says Jimmy Butler (illness) is still questionable but is preparing to try and play and Goran Dragic (illness) is out tonight.

— Daniel Sallerson (@dsallerson) November 16, 2019

No Dragic, Butler is still possibly playing

[Darkhorse985]

Are we tanking already?

[AusPel]

Is it too late for Didi to get there for the game?

[Pelicanidae]

I'm fine with this tbh. Obviously I'd rather everyone just be fine, but with sounds of some of these injuries (Redick out with a sprained toe, for example) there's a part of me that feels like some of this is just precaution. Like, Redick could play, but there's just no need to when we know we aren't winning a ring this year: better to just let him heal up.

Yes, we're incredibly undermanned, but we're only about as undermanned as we were last game, which we won. And just like last game, the other team is short handed too, without Dragic or Winslow or Jones, and maybe without Butler as well. So I'm okay with us just going out there and playing hard.

[Pelicanidae]

Tonight's starting 5 in Miami!#WontBowDown pic.twitter.com/9JmsCIB3XS

— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) November 17, 2019

Oh for God's sake.

I get that Redick isn't playing, but are we legitimately starting Frank at the point? I know it doesn't actually matter and they'll play with Jrue as the lead anyway, but why list Frank at the point?

Frank has been good this year so far. Not as good as I think some people have thought he's been, but he has been good. Strong offensive guy who has come in multiple times and made shots fall. That's valuable.

But what he hasn't shown, at all, and what everyone (including me) was hoping he would have learned since last year, is some ability to actually run the offense a little. To make plays, to run a PnR, to read defenses, etc. He hasn't done that. I don't really think it's in his wheelhouse to do it, at least not right now.

But we're starting him at the point? Okay. Like I said, I know he won't actually function as the point because Jrue is there and he'll be lead ballhandler, so nobody needs to correct me on that, it just seems like such a weird choice and I can't really get why they'd do that. Just list him as the 2.

[Pelicanidae]

Heat tonight:
Butler playing and starting.

STARTERS: Nunn, Robinson, Butler, Adebayo, Leonard.

INACTIVE: Okpala, Waiters, Winslow.

— Ira Winderman (@IraHeatBeat) November 17, 2019

Butler is a go

[AusPel]

Goddamn it

[Pelicanidae]

Love hearing Heat fans talk about how Kendrick Nunn is just some lost gem that nobody else ever noticed. They just absolutely cannot begin to fathom why he didn't get drafted.

[JJackisangry]

Tonight's starting 5 in Miami!#WontBowDown pic.twitter.com/9JmsCIB3XS

— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) November 17, 2019

Oh for God's sake.

I get that Redick isn't playing, but are we legitimately starting Frank at the point? I know it doesn't actually matter and they'll play with Jrue as the lead anyway, but why list Frank at the point?

Frank has been good this year so far. Not as good as I think some people have thought he's been, but he has been good. Strong offensive guy who has come in multiple times and made shots fall. That's valuable.

But what he hasn't shown, at all, and what everyone (including me) was hoping he would have learned since last year, is some ability to actually run the offense a little. To make plays, to run a PnR, to read defenses, etc. He hasn't done that. I don't really think it's in his wheelhouse to do it, at least not right now.

But we're starting him at the point? Okay. Like I said, I know he won't actually function as the point because Jrue is there and he'll be lead ballhandler, so nobody needs to correct me on that, it just seems like such a weird choice and I can't really get why they'd do that. Just list him as the 2.

Gentry is just experimenting to be honest. I don’t think Frank has even been that efficient. BUT, Frank 100 percent has the right mentality. He doesn’t pass up a shot and he won’t be the turd that lets the shot clock run out because he didn’t want to hurt his percentage. I’d give him a shot just to see how he does next to Jrue. Doesn’t hurt to try at this point.

[Pelicanidae]

Hopefully we can take advantage of the fact that Bimmy Jutler has been up working out since 3am

[JJackisangry]

Excellent movement from Moore there

[SoCal4Pels]

Love hearing Heat fans talk about how Kendrick Nunn is just some lost gem that nobody else ever noticed. They just absolutely cannot begin to fathom why he didn't get drafted.

Not real familiar with him besides some highlights from this season. You expect him to regress?