27th July - New Orleans Pelicans VS Milwaukee Bucks - SCRIMMAGE

[Pelicanidae]

Oh Man... Undefeated preseason. I hope it goes better than last time when games really count.

Hate being the pessimistic one, but it is what it is... Winning a lot of games that don't matter is our mo.

I feel like we can do it. That's my optimistic outlook.

We face the Jazz, who we have played generally quite well this year, and then a super short-handed Clippers team (no LouWill, no Montrezl, etc), and then 6 teams we should be able to beat.

Of course, we do have to rely on Memphis losing at least a few games but honestly, I think they will.

One thing I wonder, which other people have talked about too, is how the new venue will impact teams with home/road discrepancies. The Sixers are the biggest example, since they were excellent at home and awful on the road all year. Is this a road game? Or, because there's no fans and because the other team isn't technically home, does that effect get neutralised? Will be intriguing to see.

I mention this because, if I remember rightly, Memphis really sucked on the road this year as well.

[Taker597]

I feel like we can do it. That's my optimistic outlook.

We face the Jazz, who we have played generally quite well this year, and then a super short-handed Clippers team (no LouWill, no Montrezl, etc), and then 6 teams we should be able to beat.

Of course, we do have to rely on Memphis losing at least a few games but honestly, I think they will.

One thing I wonder, which other people have talked about too, is how the new venue will impact teams with home/road discrepancies. The Sixers are the biggest example, since they were excellent at home and awful on the road all year. Is this a road game? Or, because there's no fans and because the other team isn't technically home, does that effect get neutralised? Will be intriguing to see.

I mention this because, if I remember rightly, Memphis really sucked on the road this year as well.

I hope so, but this team has a real issue with folding under the slightest pressure or expectations.

[Snarly]

Things are different this time. Everyone is healthy and fresh. Everyone knows their roles and there should no longer be any confusion on both sides of the ball nor should there be any need for experimentation.

[luckyman]

Actually need Portland to lose a game or two not Memphis. At least as far as making the play in games.

[msusousaphone]

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...ld-edge-bubble

Interestingly higher than I would have guessed. Still our biggest mark against us.

[dmarrero]

If we're doing a ''regular season'' game type thing then I would want Lonzo, Jrue, Ingram, Melli, Favors to start. Then you get Redick/Jax minutes off the bench for sure. Kenrich too, but only really because no Zion, otherwise Melli would be benched and that would knock Kenrich out of the rotation. Then minutes for NAW essentially just to plug up holes in the rotation. So that's

PG: Lonzo/NAW
SG: Jrue/Redick
SF: Ingram/Kenrich
PF: Melli/Kenrich
C: Favors/Jax

That's 9 guys, so unless this is a blowout I don't really expect to see Jah, Thornwell, or Zylan at all. There's still a chance Frank gets some run because Gentry is big fan of large rotations and 4 guard lineups for some reason. Also wouldn't be surprised if we also saw NAW benched for E'twaun minutes, beause Moore always seems to get run no matter what.

Look for JAH to get more minutes in the season restart and HART IS PART OF THE ROTATION

[Pelicanidae]

Look for JAH to get more minutes in the season restart

I wouldn't be surprised because Gentry, but I would hope not.