February 24th - New Orleans Pelicans VS Detroit Pistons - 13-17

[DaFranchise80]

Time to finish these chumps off.

[Pelicanidae]

Does anyone else remember when Zion's dominance got a bit predictable in college and we started seeing people say that Cam Reddish was going to be better than him and stuff? Classic.

[Funcrusher]

Am I the only one that chuckles while watching Zion? This guy smh.. How good is this guy?? How is it teams know he wants to operate in the paint and they still can't stop him?

What a monster..

Guy's like Giannis you can limit somewhat with the build the wall strategy

That basically goes out the window with this guy. Too strong, agile and explosive in small spaces to effectively wall off. The trade off I guess is that he can get to the rim at will, but sometimes has trouble against length at the cup, but with how many opportunities he creates there it almost doesn't matter. You can only limit a guy so much at the rim if he's getting there ad nauseum.

[Chris]

Getting a little sloppy

[Funcrusher]

Does anyone else remember when Zion's dominance got a bit predictable in college and we started seeing people say that Cam Reddish was going to be better than him and stuff? Classic.

Or just last season when people were debating Zion vs Ja because they confused Zion missing games with not being historically good for a rookie?

[Nichols]

Guy's like Giannis you can limit somewhat with the build the wall strategy

That basically goes out the window with this guy. Too strong, agile and explosive in small spaces to effectively wall off. The trade off I guess is that he can get to the rim at will, but sometimes has trouble against length at the cup, but with how many opportunities he creates there it almost doesn't matter. You can only limit a guy so much at the rim if he's getting there ad nauseum.

I agree.. difference between Zion and Giannis is Giannis can't pivot and change directions the way Zion can.

[Taker597]

Playing through our A1 and A2 star... instead of your E1 and E2 guards.... Good Night

[AD-AT]

I don't know if this late 4th qtr sloppiness is all on Bledsoe tonight, but I don't feel bad blaming him for it. Bring Zion to finish this off please.

[Pelicanidae]

I agree.. difference between Zion and Giannis is Giannis can't pivot and change directions the way Zion can.

Yep. We saw that when Zion came into the league the first thing everyone did, even as early as pre-season against the Bulls in his rookie year, was try the Giannis defense of just loading up the paint and making him face 3 or 4 guys every time he drove, and it didn't work then and it's not working now.

The only teams that have been able to really give Zion any real trouble were last years Bucks - who were a historically great interior defense built around multiple guys who are like 7 feet tall and lengthy - and that first matchup against LA his rookie year.

That's basically it. He was annihilating Gobert in like, his second or third rookie pre-season game lmfao

[Taker597]

Adams learned from the best statpadder.

[Pelicanidae]

The issue is that it's like, yes, you want to limit guys minutes because it's a back to back but at the same time this game is winnable. So win it. You only really expect to go 1-1 on your back-to-backs when you're a bad team like we are, so take the win. If you try too hard to preserve the 2-0, you end up not playing your best guys enough in the first game and going 0-2.

[Chris]

Chump move

[Funcrusher]

Meanwhile, I'm noticing a horrifying thing starting to metabolize: I'm starting to warm on Lonzo

[Pelicanidae]

12 turnovers this game.

Only 6 from the starters: 0 for Zion, 1 from Ingram, Adams, and Bledsoe, and 3 for Lonzo (who had 8 assists).

That's a balance I am very very happy with.

[DaFranchise80]

Good win tonight. They avoided a letdown after Sunday’s big win.

[Pelicanidae]

Meanwhile, I'm noticing a horrifying thing starting to metabolize: I'm starting to warm on Lonzo

February has been his month.

[Pelicanidae]

Zion finishes with 32/6/5 on 13/18 shooting (72.2%).

0 turnovers, 0 fouls.

[AD-AT]

Are we defending the 3 better since that losing streak earlier this month, or are teams just missing more? Watching this is a lot less frustrating.

[As I See It]

I think if there was an Outstanding Chaser in the League (OCL), I think Eric Bledsoe would win it hands down.

[DaFranchise80]

Meanwhile, I'm noticing a horrifying thing starting to metabolize: I'm starting to warm on Lonzo

You’re not alone

[Funcrusher]

Went from embarrassing to dominant in a heartbeat. Christ this team knows how to rev up my anxiety.

[Pelicanidae]

Are we defending the 3 better since that losing streak earlier this month, or are teams just missing more? Watching this is a lot less frustrating.

Teams are mostly just missing more. I mentioned this earlier in a game thread, maybe two games ago?

We were giving up basically the same number of open 3s a game as the Knicks but guys were shooting 31% on those attempts vs them, as opposed to something like 43% on them against us.

Eventually the law of averages happens and we get some games where guys don't go nuclear. It doesn't mean the defense is fixed, it just means averages are averages for a reason.

[Taker597]

Are we defending the 3 better since that losing streak earlier this month, or are teams just missing more? Watching this is a lot less frustrating.

They really stopped shooting them... started the 1st QTR with 14 or 15 3pa... only attempted 22-21 the rest of the game

[Pelicanidae]

Pels are 7-0 this year when Zion has at least 5 assists.

[Pelicanidae]

They really stopped shooting them... started the 1st QTR with 14 or 15 3pa... only attempted 22-21 the rest of the game

They had 13 3PAs in the first quarter: finished with 37. That means they took 24 the rest of the game.

Definitely slowed the pace, but they were missing on them too, not just taking fewer: 7 makes in the first quarter (7/13), only 6/24 for the rest of the game.