February 17th - New Orleans Pelicans VS Portland Trailblazers - 12-15

[Pelicanidae]

Back home for the next 4️⃣ games starting tonight!

🏀 vs. Portland
🕗 8 p.m. CT
📺 @FOXSportsNOLA
📻 100.3 FM @ESPNRadioNOLA @SmoothieKing | #WontBowDown pic.twitter.com/OX6NpgnDqv

— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) February 17, 2021

Start of a 4 game homestand tonight on the second night of a back to back. Luckily, our guys didn't get ridiculous minutes last night so they shouldn't be too worn out.

The Blazers are 17-10 so far this year. They're on a 5 game winning streak. There have been some people who have pointed out that they've largely played bad teams so far, and that's true (of their 17 wins, 11 of them have come against teams which currently have losing records) and whenever they've come up against a really good team (Utah, Clippers, Indiana, Milwaukee) they tend to lose more often than not; the exception being Philadelphia, who they've beaten twice. The people who point that out aren't wrong. However, that's the kind of information that's only really promising if you're a good team: we suck, so we're exactly the kind of team they usually beat.

Portland so far this year are kind of like us, in terms of statistical profile: we're a good offensive team (7th overall right now, driven up almost ten spots in the month of February by Point Zion) with a very poor defense (27th). Portland is exactly the same, just a bit moreso; they're 5th overall in ORtg and 29th in DRtg. They're one of the few teams more pathetic on defense than we are, but their offense has been even more potent. This is largely due to Damian Lillard continuing to do his Lillard things: averaging 29/4/7 on 44/38/93 splits so far this season, good for 62.2% TS.

Both Harry Giles and Rodney Hood missed last game for Portland, and McCollum, Nurkic, and Collins have all been out for weeks.

Can we win tonight, if we play at our best? Yeah, I think so. Will we actually do that? There is no reason for us to believe that we will; this team is nothing if not inconsistent. That said, we are a bit better at home (7-5) than on the road (5-10) so that is something.

[AusPel]

Both teams have to deal with playing the night before and bloody Covid testing at 8am

Get some sleep bois

[luckyman]

NBA betting lines have been perplexing. Pelicans are a 3 point favorite.

[Pelicanidae]

NBA betting lines have been perplexing. Pelicans are a 3 point favorite.

Have to assume it's cause we're a good home team (just) and we're healthy, whereas Portland have a ton of injuries? Not sure.

[AusPel]

NBA betting lines have been perplexing. Pelicans are a 3 point favorite.

Blame Zion

[AusPel]

I managed to get some raw footage earlier of the team flying back into Louisiana this morning



Looking good boys

[Pelicanidae]

I managed to get some raw footage earlier of the team flying back into Louisiana this morning



Looking good boys

If only our guys had the wingspan of a real Pelican

Team full of guys that make Tim Duncan look short-armed.

[AusPel]

If only our guys had the wingspan of a real Pelican

Team full of guys that make Tim Duncan look short-armed.

Vinson is already fixing this as we speak

[Pelicanidae]

You know, as someone who lives in England and therefore has no point of reference for how big Pelicans actually get (the largest species of Pelican do not live here naturally) I was shocked a few years ago when I looked it up. Largest species of Pelican can have a wingspan up to 11 feet. That's just silly. You just know they'd protect the basket like madmen.

[Pelicanidae]

Blazers announce that their flight from OKC to New Orleans last night was cancelled because of weather. Team is flying this afternoon and will go from airport to arena for tonight’s game against Pelicans.

— Jason Quick (@jwquick) February 17, 2021

Oooooooof

[AusPel]

Blazers announce that their flight from OKC to New Orleans last night was cancelled because of weather. Team is flying this afternoon and will go from airport to arena for tonight’s game against Pelicans.

— Jason Quick (@jwquick) February 17, 2021

Oooooooof

What's ooof about having a nice sleep and then taking a nice cushy coach from the airport to the stadium

Pretty sure the Bulls used to go straight from the airport to the stadium when they three-peated

Not sure what your pro-Pels angle is here, but it seems fairly desperate

[Pelicanidae]

What's ooof about having a nice sleep and then taking a nice cushy coach from the airport to the stadium

Hoping straight off the plane into a game with no time to unwind and rest or sleep properly (I can't sleep on planes, at least) is rough. There's a reason teams prefer to fly to places as early as they can and then get a real sleep in a bed where possible.

[AusPel]

Hoping straight off the plane into a game with no time to unwind and rest or sleep properly (I can't sleep on planes, at least) is rough. There's a reason teams prefer to fly to places as early as they can and then get a real sleep in a bed where possible.

They would have slept first and then flown, rather than flown than slept

[AusPel]

Since Portland was on the road and still is on the road with no hope of being in their own beds, I'd wager sleeping first and then flying is actually the better way to go about it rather than staying up to fly, then going to sleep into some random ****** disorienting bed, then being woken up for the game not realising where the ******** you are and then having to get your ******** together to play an NBA game in a matter of hours.

[Pelicanidae]

They would have slept first and then flown, rather than flown than slept

Yeah but I don't know about you, I always feel tired after a flight. Always want to go straight to sleep.

[luckyman]

I don't know anybody that feels energetic and ready to go after 2+ hour flight. Except for that one time I flew into NYC around midnight, I always need a nap.

[Taker597]

From Portland... That's a two timezone hop. That's a bit more brutal.

[PELICANSFAN]

From Portland... That's a two timezone hop. That's a bit more brutal.

They are flying in from OKC. They played there last night.

[Taker597]

They are flying in from OKC. They played there last night.

Ehhhh... That's much manageable. Definitely wouldn't get my hopes up.

[6warddude]

im looking forward to watching us playing against dame without jrue.....dame been on a lil run lately....he might try to get some pay back tonight lol...

[tdcreator]

I think it’ll be better for them. Get a decent night sleep. Wake for 8 covid test then leave. Much better the getting on a plane then to hotel for 3 then wake up at 7-8 for covid test. Just my preference though

[Fedupfan]

They better guard the 3. This isn’t the team to look lost against.

[Pelicanidae]

I love Antonio Daniels but he does get a little bit excitable at times.

''You can't have the MVP conversation without talking about Damian Lillard''...

Depends how long we're having the conversation. If we talk for an hour then he'll probably come up. He's not a top 5 MVP candidate though, right now.

[Jackie Moon]

Hey everyone. Ready to watch point Zion tonight. Who on this Portland can guard him tonight, both off the dribble and in the post?

[Pelicanidae]

Not the most auspicious of Lonzo starts with 2 turnovers inside of 3 minutes