13th December - New Orleans Pelicans @ Philadelphia 76ers - 6-19
What else can I say but yikes?
Pelicans injury report - 12.13 at PHI:
— Pelicans PR (@PelicansPR) December 12, 2019
Questionable: Derrick Favors (personal reasons)
Out: Darius Miller (right Achilles surgery), Zion Williamson (right knee scope)
Tonight we take on the Sixers. There's been a lot of talk about the Sixers disappointing some people, based on what the pre-season projections were, and that's fair enough in some regards. That said, they're still 19-7, ranked 3rd in the East, and have gone 8-1 over their last 9 games.
The Sixers are 9th in rebounds, 3rd in assists, 3rd in steals, 7th in blocks, 3rd in FG%, 1st in DRBD%, and 6th in eFG%. They're a good basketball team. 12th in offense, 4th in defense.
Their weaknesses are fairly simple: they're pretty turnover prone (4th worst in the NBA) and they foul a lot (10th worst), but that's about it. Their offense can get pretty stagnant because they insist on going with the Embiid post-up more than they perhaps should, particularly because of Embiid's difficulties stretching the floor (31.5% from 3 this year) and playing in a slower half-court setting really hamstrings Ben Simmons, who is at his best running and reading in transition. That said, Embiid is still very good, and so is Ben, so while that's a criticism to be sure, it's not a fatal one.
I don't really know what to recommend this team do. Any suggestion just seems like it's throwing sand into the ocean; this team cannot execute anything. It's painful to watch. We had an election in the UK yesterday and my preferred political party got annihilated in a defeat that will likely see the end of our nationalised healthcare service, and it was still slightly less painful than watching the Pelicans attempt to play defense.
Just play basketball, I guess.
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Originally Posted by 13 - 3
