6th February - New Orleans Pelicans @ Chicago Bulls - 20-31

[Pelicanidae]

After a predictable but still unpleasant loss to the Milwaukee Bucks last game, we head out on the road again, this time to Chicago to face the Bulls. Before I do any analysis or fact-finding, let's just take a quick look at the injury report:

Zion Williamson added to injury report for Chicago game

Story: https://t.co/S4jQDz8Cxr#Pelicans | @MorrisBartLLC pic.twitter.com/KrqSpRPjTF

— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) February 5, 2020

As you can see, there is one change: Zion's on it. Now, don't panic: he's listed as questionable with a big toe sprain, so it's not a serious injury and he might still end up playing. But it's something to be aware of. Would really suck if he had to miss a game, but I get it. If there's any lingering pains from anything really, it's best to be exceedingly cautious. Still, questionable isn't out, so he could play.

Anyway, we're taking on the Chicago Bulls. They're 19-33, a little worse than us, and have gone 6-12 since January 1st. So we've been better than them, of late. That said, the wins they've had in 2020 have been against teams like Minnesota and San Antonio; teams who are roughly on our level. So, as always, we can't be arrogant. The team needs to come in this ready to fight for a win.

The Bulls are 27th in offense and 14th in defense. Dunn, Markkanen, Porter, and WCJ are all going to be out for this game, and Dunn/WCJ are big parts of their defense, so expect some drop off there. They're 29th in rebounds, 22nd in assists, 25th in FG%, 25th in 3PT%, 20th in FT%, and they're bottom 10 in both turnovers and fouling. They aren't a great team. This is the kind of game where, if those playoff hopes are to stay alive, we need to pick up the win; winnable road games don't come along that often for us it often seems, and when it's against a sub .500 team, we need to take advantage of that.

Realistically there are only a few things we need to do. Again, the paint needs to be more of a priority; last game the Bucks were designed to stop that, but the Bulls have no such defensive line. We should be getting to the rim with urgency, and trying to exploit their tendency for fouling. We also have to stop the turnovers; the Bulls lead the league in steals, but Dunn is a huge part of that and he won't be playing, so we have to try and keep some discipline and avoid beating ourselves.

Aside from that, it's just all of the usual stuff about ball movement, focus on defense, etc. Let's try and get the W. #WBD.

[Eman5805]

Sprained toe isn’t usually serious. More about discomfort than anything. But we’ve spent weeks waiting for a relatively minor surgery to heal. Wouldn’t surprise me if he sits out this one.

[Pelicanidae]

Sprained toe isn’t usually serious. More about discomfort than anything. But we’ve spent weeks waiting for a relatively minor surgery to heal. Wouldn’t surprise me if he sits out this one.

Yeah it's an excess of caution thing. It's fairly far in advance of the game so any discomfort or whatever could clear up between now and then, but if there's any real pain or awkwardness they'll hold him out I reckon. Sucks for us viewers, but I get it.

[SeapeaNOLA]

Man what a fat injury prone bust amirite?

(This is heavy sarcasm just for anyone getting their panties in an uproar. This is what I see on twitter daily. Unironically.)

[13 - 3]

Tank back on! #PelsLife

[ktulu909]

Sit him. Running on a sprained toe could completely change his get and the way he runs,jumps etc. That could lead to other injuries.

[13 - 3]

https://www.healthline.com/health/sprained-toe

Sprains are classified into grades based on how severe they are. Your doctor will determine if your sprain is:

Grade 1. Your ligament has some minor tearing, known as microtearing.
Grade 2. Your ligament is partially torn and you have mild joint instability.
Grade 3. Your ligament is severely or completely torn and you have significant joint instability.

sprained toe usually takes about three to six weeks to fully heal.

There you have it.

[Creative]

New Orleans Pelicans rookie Zion Williamson will be available against the Chicago Bulls on the road Thursday night after initially being listed as questionable with a toe sprain, according to the team.
ESPN.Com

Uffff...

[13 - 3]

Someone on Pelicans staff decided to be a troll today.

[Tinman]

Sprained toe isn’t usually serious. More about discomfort than anything. But we’ve spent weeks waiting for a relatively minor surgery to heal. Wouldn’t surprise me if he sits out this one.

Don't mean to be a Felicia or anything, but a sprained toe has a HUGE variance. If not tended to properly & being a higher grade sprain, it can take weeks for that toe to heal. They are painful SOB's too!

[Eman5805]

Don't mean to be a Felicia or anything, but a sprained toe has a HUGE variance. If not tended to properly & being a higher grade sprain, it can take weeks for that toe to heal. They are painful SOB's too!

No doubt...but he finished the game. I figured it meant it was low grade enough to only maybe allow him to miss time and if that...very little of it.

[AD-AT]

Nice to see some easier competition on the schedule rather than the last 2 games.

Hoping to see more team ball this game. The offensive plan from the rockets game bled over into the Bucks game and turned into a mess.

I also hope to see Jax play well. Realistically he hasn't be getting min latley, but he hasn't looked good when he has been on the floor. I wonder if part of that is just NAW not getting any time latley either.

[Pelicanidae]

Because it was never 3-6 week toe sprain.

Never ever.

He was questionable in the afternoon and then they checked him out last night again and he was fine. https://t.co/sp3YhCDdon

— Andrew Lopez (@_Andrew_Lopez) February 6, 2020

[Pelicanidae]

Pregame interview with Zion. Key/interesting quotes transcribed.

Q: You've been a focal point of attention for a long time. Is that a pain in the butt to you, or do you enjoy it?

Zion: ''I enjoy it. I find it very funny.''

Q: How's the toe, did that come up after the last game?

Zion: ''I just had a tiny bit of discomfort in it, but it's nothing major. I'm fine.''

Q: Now that you've finally had a chance to play with this lineup, what are you learning?

Zion: ''I'm learning that we can do a lot of great things together. We have a really bright future and I think we're learning game by game. 7 games in, they've had like 50, so you're learning tendencies the more you play with each other. [related question is asked] We're a great team and we need to start carrying ourselves as such, we need to eliminate those small things that we do in games that cost ourselves the games because great teams don't do that.''

Q: Biggest adjustment for you so far in the league?

Zion: ''Nothing really on court to be honest, for me it's more off court with my teammates going from college teammates to like, Derrick Favors and JJ, with kids, the different levels of responsibilities that they have. That's been the biggest adjustment.''

Q: Coach that the team doesn't have to do a huge amount of work keeping you grounded because your mom and dad do that for them, how is that?

Zion:''It's one of those things where people might say that you had a great game but when I get home I know that I'm going to hear the opposite, so going through that for years I thought my mom was being tough on me but I know now that it's just to keep me in the right mindset and keep me humble.''

Q: Going against Giannis the other night, does it surprise you how talented some of these guys are?

Zion:''Nah it doesn't surprise me, they built their reputation to be who they are and this is the NBA. The best in the world play here, so it's just a matter of getting better and better and competing.''

Q: You said the adjustment level on court hasn't been huge, so what are your thoughts on the lineups with you at the 5?

Zion:''It was a little adjustment but I did it a little at Duke and the comfort level with that is that it's basketball, so you just try to make the basketball play. I'm able to use my speed and strength to get by bigs on the perimeter or to face them up in the post, so with that it's just trying to find the mismatch within the group.''

Quotes are pretty much verbatim but I wasn't constantly pausing or going back to make sure it was perfect so there might be a few things off. Close enough though.

I love that answer from him about eliminating the small things that cost us games, and about how he doesn't mind playing the 5 because it's just basketball. That's perfect stuff.

[AUSSIE_PELICAN]

Pregame interview with Zion. Key/interesting quotes transcribed.

Q: You've been a focal point of attention for a long time. Is that a pain in the butt to you, or do you enjoy it?

Zion: ''I enjoy it. I find it very funny.''

Q: How's the toe, did that come up after the last game?

Zion: ''I just had a tiny bit of discomfort in it, but it's nothing major. I'm fine.''

Q: Now that you've finally had a chance to play with this lineup, what are you learning?

Zion: ''I'm learning that we can do a lot of great things together. We have a really bright future and I think we're learning game by game. 7 games in, they've had like 50, so you're learning tendencies the more you play with each other. [related question is asked] We're a great team and we need to start carrying ourselves as such, we need to eliminate those small things that we do in games that cost ourselves the games because great teams don't do that.''

Q: Biggest adjustment for you so far in the league?

Zion: ''Nothing really on court to be honest, for me it's more off court with my teammates going from college teammates to like, Derrick Favors and JJ, with kids, the different levels of responsibilities that they have. That's been the biggest adjustment.''

Q: Coach that the team doesn't have to do a huge amount of work keeping you grounded because your mom and dad do that for them, how is that?

Zion:''It's one of those things where people might say that you had a great game but when I get home I know that I'm going to hear the opposite, so going through that for years I thought my mom was being tough on me but I know now that it's just to keep me in the right mindset and keep me humble.''

Q: Going against Giannis the other night, does it surprise you how talented some of these guys are?

Zion:''Nah it doesn't surprise me, they built their reputation to be who they are and this is the NBA. The best in the world play here, so it's just a matter of getting better and better and competing.''

Q: You said the adjustment level on court hasn't been huge, so what are your thoughts on the lineups with you at the 5?

Zion:''It was a little adjustment but I did it a little at Duke and the comfort level with that is that it's basketball, so you just try to make the basketball play. I'm able to use my speed and strength to get by bigs on the perimeter or to face them up in the post, so with that it's just trying to find the mismatch within the group.''

Quotes are pretty much verbatim but I wasn't constantly pausing or going back to make sure it was perfect so there might be a few things off. Close enough though.

I love that answer from him about eliminating the small things that cost us games, and about how he doesn't mind playing the 5 because it's just basketball. That's perfect stuff.

Do you use an app to download the words from that video/audio or do you just type 1000 words a minute?

Would take me 5 days lol.

[Pelicanidae]

Do you use an app to download the words from that video/audio or do you just type 1000 words a minute?

Would take me 5 days lol.

I just put the video on and then type as it plays. Go back afterwards to correct a couple of spellings. If it's a longer thing, like a podcast, I will sometimes go back and pause sections where guys are speaking quickly to ensure 100% accuracy, but for videos like this the rough transcription is good enough.

I'm not entirely certain if I'm the youngest but I think I'm one of the younger members of the board and I've been typing pretty much my whole life as a result. Depends on the day and the weather and stuff (cold hands go slower ) but I generally type around 100 words per minute, which is fairly snappy.

[msusousaphone]

Flap flap.

[Pelicanidae]

Zion getting in a quick pregame film session pic.twitter.com/QA8Xgm4vA5

— Mason Ginsberg (@MasonGinsberg) February 6, 2020

[RUFshreve]

The line for this game has only moved half a point in our favor since 10 am, even though over 70% of the money has come in on the Pels. Makes me a little nervous, but when you look at it objectively, we should smash them. They are too short-handed, especially in the front court.

Zion should feast.

[Pelicanidae]

The line for this game has only moved half a point in our favor since 10 am, even though over 70% of the money has come in on the Pels. Makes me a little nervous, but when you look at it objectively, we should smash them. They are too short-handed, especially in the front court.

Zion should feast.

In preseason Zion had 29 points in 26 minutes on 92.3% efficiency against the Bulls.

Obviously only preseason, can't expect that again, but still. This is not a team that has him figured out

[Pelicanidae]

My hope for tonight is that Jrue can take advantage of a lack of Dunn and WCJ to get into the paint and have a more impactful offensive game than last time out, and that Zion can bounce back. He shot 92.3% against the Bulls in pre-season, and I don't expect that, but if he could go 60%+ that would be a solid return to form after that rough Bucks game.

[Pelicanidae]

Ingram died on that screen. Wow, that was a bad one. Zion had to rush to recover and it ended up with a goaltend.

[Pelicanidae]

Lonzo with such a lackadaisical closeout

[Pelicanidae]

Good defensive play from Zion to poke that loose from Kornet to prevent the layup, but then can't quite corral the steal a moment after.

[Pelicanidae]

Sometimes after Antonio Daniels goes off on a really long, impassioned, only semi-relevant rant, the silence from Joel afterwards is heavier than is friendly