January 8th - New Orleans Pelicans VS Charlotte Hornets - 4-4

[Pelicanidae]

One more time for the home crowd before our road trip ⚜

🏀 vs. Charlotte
🕡 6:30 p.m. CT
📺 @espn/@FOXSportsNOLA
📻 100.3 FM @ESPNRadioNOLA @SmoothieKing | #WontBowDown pic.twitter.com/UFwfJA3rJU

— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) January 8, 2021

Here we go, after two annoying losses we have our last chance to head out on this roadtrip as an above .500 team. If we can't clean up tonight, we go out below .500, and walk directly into a warzone of matchups.

Not going to write much here because honestly, we've all written a ton about what needs to be seen from this team at the moment. All I will note is that tonight is the first time Lonzo is going to play LaMelo in the NBA, which is an interesting little narrative to run alongside the actual game. Hopefully it inspires him towards one of his better nights, if nothing else.

Need a win here.

[13 - 3]

We win tonight! I guarantee it!

[DaPelFromHell]

I wonder if LeMelo will get his first start tonight since he?s going against his Bro? And it?s their first nationally televised game, so I would want to showcase the #3 pick if I was them. He should cause he?s out playing Graham and that Rozier/Graham backcourt doesn?t make any sense. I could see if Graham was playing like Sexton, but he?s not on his level. Graham would be a perfect 6th man type too. I would run out a Rozier, Ball, Hayward, Bridges, Washington small ball lineup with Graham as a 6th man if I was them.

SVG better pull off the win or I?m going to really sour on him quickly.

[DaPelFromHell]

So JJ’s probable! Damn I was hoping to see Kira possibly get some extended minutes. But SVG hates playing rookies. But we playing a 8 man rotation and giving our top guys way too many minutes. They look worn out and not finishing games strong. BI can’t hit shots late in games. Lonzo starts making head scratching plays. Zion misses more free throws. KIRA, KIRA, KIRA!!

[pelicanchamp]

We need to consider trading Lonzo and put NAW in the starting lineup. NAW has potential to be a starter. He?s got to get more reps. I want him running the point.


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[Pelicanidae]

So JJ’s probable! Damn I was hoping to see Kira possibly get some extended minutes. But SVG hates playing rookies. But we playing a 8 man rotation and giving our top guys way too many minutes. They look worn out and not finishing games strong. BI can’t hit shots late in games. Lonzo starts making head scratching plays. Zion misses more free throws. KIRA, KIRA, KIRA!!

We've played at least 9 guys in our last 4 straight games, and Zion's FT shooting has actually been pretty fine for about 4 games as well: he's 73.3% from the line on 30 attempts (7.5 per game) over the last 4.

We have a ton of issues but those particular things haven't been among them in the last few games.

[Pelicanidae]

Oh Jeff van Gundy, lovely.

Time to mute the broadcast.

[Pelicanidae]

We should be attacking the paint a lot tonight.

They start Biyombo at C. He's not great. After that, they have PJ Washington who is good but is someone Zion has experience dealing with, and then off the bench it's just guys like Vernon Carey Jr who quite simply does not have the movement skills to defend guys like Ingram on a switch or Zion straight up on a drive.

[Pelicanidae]

Balanced scoring so far. I like to see that, it's much harder to defend a team if everyone is willing to chip in production.

[Pelicanidae]

11 point lead in the first quarter is exactly how this game should go.

We blew OKC out by over 30 a few games ago: this should look like that.

[All Metro]

turovers sigh

[All Metro]

wish we hit 3's like this every night lol

[Pelicanidae]

5 turnovers? Bad.

16 point lead? Very good.

Carry on.

[luckyman]

Nice break from the shooting slump.

Close outs are still terrible. They just cannot keep their feet down. Jeez.

[luckyman]

This lead gets back down to 10 call timeout. I want to see Kira play tonight.

[Pelicanidae]

Redick is 2/3 from 3 so let's hope he's being Restored.

[All Metro]

NAW release is so damn slow

[Pelicanidae]

NAW release is so damn slow

I always hate watching really lengthy people shoot. It's not their fault, and some of them have fast releases anyway, but when people have huge wingspans watching them shoot always feels like watching a crane arm unfold

[ragincaucasian]

I need some KIRA. Give me some KIRA!

[As I See It]

NAW release is so damn slow

He 'slingshots' it.

[hornetzplaya]

There is no way we keep this lead in them. By the 4th quarter it'll be a 5 point game by then.

[smcgull]

They have to learn how to stump those bad teams.

[Taker597]

Hmmm... We're winning. I wondered what's going on...

CHA 3-19 3PT...

Ahhhhh... That makes sense. Are they missing open looks or is our defense is defending perimeter better?

[AusPel]

Hmmm... We're winning. I wondered what's going on...

CHA 3-19 3PT...

Ahhhhh... That makes sense. Are they missing open looks or is our defense is defending perimeter better?

Wouldn't say the perimeter defense is super tight. But it's not atrocious. They've missed a lot of open ones

[Pelicanidae]

Wouldn't say the perimeter defense is super tight. But it's not atrocious. They've missed a lot of open ones

Yeah, they're not a great 3pt shooting team in general (19th in the league) and they're having a down night.