2nd February - New Orleans Pelicans @ Houston Rockets - 20-29
Game 5 of Zion's tenure with us has come and gone, and it has brought us yet another win. We are now 3-2 in games in which Zion Williamson plays. After a brief return to New Orleans which we used as an excuse to put Memphis in thumbscrews, we head back out on the road to take on the Houston Rockets. Here's the injury report:
Pelicans at Rockets Injury Report: https://t.co/yxNEdLKac7
— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) February 1, 2020
Pelicans play at Houston on Sunday at 1 pm CT on ABC@MorrisBartLLC pic.twitter.com/89VIVfHIWm
As you'll see, nothing's changed from last game.
Houston are 30-18 as of right now, which is a strong record (currently good for 5th in the West) but have not had a great last 30 days. They are 4-6 over their last 10 games, and are only 7-7 through the month of January. Obviously that's not the worst record ever, but it's fairly mediocre. It's not like this is the result of them going through a gauntlet of tough games either: they've had losses to Memphis and Portland, who are both teams on roughly our level, and they've had single digit wins against both Minnesota and Atlanta.
A pretty big reason for this rough month is as follows: James Harden's been shooting like garbage. Through 12 games in January, Harden has shot 35% from the floor and 27.7% from 3. This is horrific. In conjunction with this, his turnovers have hung around 4.5 a game while his assists have ticked down; he averaged 8 per game for the first 20 games of the year, but only about 6 through January. His defense has been, as usual, baaaaad.
In fact, the only reason they've been as good as they have been given the injuries they've suffered and Harden's poor play, is that Westbrook's had a strong month. In fact, his strongest month of the year, arguably. In January, Westbrook averaged 32.5/8/8, and shot 52% from the field. While he only shot 25% from 3, his shot selection has improved massively in that regard; he's shooting them poorly, but he's barely shooting them, taking only 2 a game.
Overall though, while Houston have undoubtedly had a poor month, they still can't be ignored. Harden is still the kind of guy who could go off on any given night, despite his recent issues. But if we play well, this is a game I truly believe we can win.
Additional note: Clint Capela is reportedly out, which means they have pretty much no big bodies. Zion should be absolutely feasting at the rim tonight. Last time we played Houston, we won by 15, but neither Westbrook nor Harden played in that game. Yet another loss faces them tonight, with other injury concerns.
Let's go out there and win. #WBD
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Originally Posted by luckyman
