April 24th - New Orleans Pelicans vs San Antonio Spurs - 26-33

[Pelicanidae]

Back home at the SKC against the Spurs tonight ⚜

🏀 vs. San Antonio
🕖 7 p.m. CT
📺 @BallySportsNO
📻 100.3 FM @ESPNRadioNOLA @SmoothieKing | #WontBowDown pic.twitter.com/RAJslI2axe

— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) April 24, 2021

Six games under .500 after a blowout win last game, and we take on the Spurs at home.

San Antonio are 29-29 as we speak and are currently sat in the 10th seed, just edging their way into the play-ins ahead of us. They are the league's 10th rated defense and 19th offense, and they have won 3 of their last 4; wins over Indiana, Phoenix, and Detroit with their single loss against Miami.

Derozan, Rudy Gay, and Trey Lyles are all listed as questionable on the BasketballRef injury report.

Spurs are one of those teams who are not top 5 in anything (except turnovers per game), but also aren't bottom 5 in anything; 17th in rebounds, 15th in assists, 21st in points, 20th in both FG% and 3P%. They kind of just hover around the middle of the league in everything, and that's fitting for a team that's somehow at exactly .500 58 games in.

By contrast our defense has at least nominally improved; we're now the 27th ranked defense instead of the 28th, and our offense has sunk down from 7th to 9th to go along with that. We are 4-4 over our last 8 but only 1-4 over our last 5.

Is this game one we can compete in? Absolutely, if we play our best ball. Will we play our best ball? This team has given me no reason to expect that. Let's see what happens.

[ragincaucasian]

It's really hard to care at this point. Mired in below mediocrity yet again. Groundhog Day, basketball edition.

[Pelicanidae]

It's really hard to care at this point. Mired in below mediocrity yet again. Groundhog Day, basketball edition.

#FadeForCade

For every Pelicans game you watch, watch one (1) Nuggets game. You will fall in love again.

[13 - 3]

Oh so there you are finally! Win or lose I’m going to enjoy my Texas BBQ I’m cooking for myself tonight. They can’t take that away from me.

[Pelicanidae]

Oh so there you are finally! Win or lose I’m going to enjoy my Texas BBQ I’m cooking for myself tonight. They can’t take that away from me.

I mean, it's a weird finally, right? It was only a few minutes after your thread and still 8 hours before the game

[13 - 3]

I mean, it's a weird finally, right? It was only a few minutes after your thread and still 8 hours before the game

Get with the program! Won’t bow down!

[Taker597]

Oh so there you are finally! Win or lose I?m going to enjoy my Texas BBQ I?m cooking for myself tonight. They can?t take that away from me.

I love Texas Backyard BBQ, but Texas BBQ is so low effort and bottom tier for the most part. Mainly because Texas is flooded with horrible chain BBQ establishment and mediocre, but incredibly overhyped BBQ restaurants.

I have like around 15 amazing restaurants and like 60-80 recommended joints that I never go back. San Antonio and Austin BBQ is my jam. I stopped testing the waters outside of those cities.

[Taker597]

Oh snap... We are 2 games from the 8th pick. Oh, very nice.

[Pelicanidae]

Oh snap... We are 2 games from the 8th pick. Oh, very nice.

Looking at our upcoming schedule it's weird how much room there is for us to go either way.

After tonight, our remaining schedule is:

- VS Clippers
- @ Nuggets
- @ Thunder
- @ Wolves
- VS Warriors
- VS Warriors
- @ Sixers
- @ Hornets
- @ Grizzlies
- @ Mavericks
- @ Warriors
- VS Lakers

There are so many coinflip games in there. Like, Warriors 3 times: on the one hand, they are a bad team and despite recent Curry heroics they're still only .500. Do we go 2-1 or 1-2 in those three games? We always seem to beat Memphis so that's there. We should beat the Wolves but we've already lost to them a bunch this year so what should happen may not necessarily. Should beat the Thunder but will we?

That's a 12 game span in which I could seriously see us going 8-4 or like, 3-9 without much difficulty. Either seems totally possible.

[Taker597]

Looking at our upcoming schedule it's weird how much room there is for us to go either way.

After tonight, our remaining schedule is:

- VS Clippers
- @ Nuggets
- @ Thunder
- @ Wolves
- VS Warriors
- VS Warriors
- @ Sixers
- @ Hornets
- @ Grizzlies
- @ Mavericks
- @ Warriors
- VS Lakers

There are so many coinflip games in there. Like, Warriors 3 times: on the one hand, they are a bad team and despite recent Curry heroics they're still only .500. Do we go 2-1 or 1-2 in those three games? We always seem to beat Memphis so that's there. We should beat the Wolves but we've already lost to them a bunch this year so what should happen may not necessarily. Should beat the Thunder but will we?

That's a 12 game span in which I could seriously see us going 8-4 or like, 3-9 without much difficulty. Either seems totally possible.

I'm worried about teams resting at the end of season. With the crazy condensed season, I can see a lot of Rest - Injury Managements or 15 men line ups with teams clinching the playoffs. Lakers Mavs and Warriors could all be resting by the time we play them.. We could end the season on a dreadful and meaningless 5 game winning streak against G league players.

[Taker597]

The only good thing is that we have 8 road games and we are dreadful on the road.

[Pelicanidae]

I'm worried about teams resting at the end of season. With the crazy condensed season, I can see a lot of Rest - Injury Managements or 15 men line ups with teams clinching the playoffs. Lakers Mavs and Warriors could all be resting by the time we play them.. We could end the season on a dreadful and meaningless 5 game winning streak against G league players.

That could be true but it's also the case (if I remember rightly) that there's a full week after the season ends before the playoffs start. Teams will want their guys to get rest but do they really want to sit everyone for the final week of the season knowing that by the time the playoffs start it will then have been 2 weeks of no-play? Teams may not want to hit the playoffs cold like that.

[Stalwart385]

This could be the fat lady game. According to playoffstatus.com: Win and play-in chances are still at a modest 30%, lose and it plummets to 6%.

[donato]

Badly need a loss. Some of these upcoming games should be easy.

[JJackisangry]

We should absolutely throw the towel in on the season now, but knowing us, we will turn on the jets right as we were about to land Moody

[Pelicanidae]

We should absolutely throw the towel in on the season now, but knowing us, we will turn on the jets right as we were about to land Moody

We'll go 9-3 to end the year and miss the play-ins by 1 game to Golden State lmao. Worst of both worlds.

[Taker597]

We'll go 9-3 to end the year and miss the play-ins by 1 game to Golden State lmao. Worst of both worlds.

And some people be like..." We are better to finish the season strong than tank... What a 20 year old gonna do for us..."

Huh... With a (R) FA class that has Lonzo Ball in the top 5 or 10 available.

Better than that...

There is a reason why teams are tanking more than usual, because there is more talent in the draft than in FA this year.

[Pelicanidae]

And some people be like..." We are better to finish the season strong than tank... What a 20 year old gonna do for us..."

Huh... With a (R) FA class that has Lonzo Ball in the top 5 or 10 available.

Better than that...

My general opinion is that we were right to really try and do our best this season and see if we had what it takes to be a playoff team. About 40 games it it was completely apparent that we do not, and that this team as constructed does not have what it takes to be a high level team. At that point, you don't try to lose actively (that sucks) but you do shift the focus and feed more minutes to the youth and try out different things, which we have largely done. That generally leads to losing. At this point we are almost certainly not making the playoffs and therefore winning games has no tangible benefit to us: you still want players to try, but objectively speaking it will neither help nor hinder us going forward because nothing anyone can do in the final dozen games or so can change the 50+ game sample size we have so far. Players aren't going to win contracts in the last few weeks, and we aren't going to switch the direction of the team based on a handful of late wins.

Therefore the thing that benefits the team most long term is losing. That's because either we get a high pick and can use it to draft a Cade or a Mobley or a Moody or a Suggs or whoever, or we don't keep it and the higher pick has a better trade value [note: I do think we should keep it if it somehow ends up being in a Cade or Mobley-able spot, beyond that I'm more open to discussion].

Anyone doing the ''better to finish the season strong'' talk must be extraordinarily optimistic about free agency and or the trade market, which I frankly can't quite see myself.

[JJackisangry]

My general opinion is that we were right to really try and do our best this season and see if we had what it takes to be a playoff team. About 40 games it it was completely apparent that we do not, and that this team as constructed does not have what it takes to be a high level team. At that point, you don't try to lose actively (that sucks) but you do shift the focus and feed more minutes to the youth and try out different things, which we have largely done. That generally leads to losing. At this point we are almost certainly not making the playoffs and therefore winning games has no tangible benefit to us: you still want players to try, but objectively speaking it will neither help nor hinder us going forward because nothing anyone can do in the final dozen games or so can change the 50+ game sample size we have so far. Players aren't going to win contracts in the last few weeks, and we aren't going to switch the direction of the team based on a handful of late wins.

Therefore the thing that benefits the team most long term is losing. That's because either we get a high pick and can use it to draft a Cade or a Mobley or a Moody or a Suggs or whoever, or we don't keep it and the higher pick has a better trade value [note: I do think we should keep it if it somehow ends up being in a Cade or Mobley-able spot, beyond that I'm more open to discussion].

Anyone doing the ''better to finish the season strong'' talk must be extraordinarily optimistic about free agency and or the trade market, which I frankly can't quite see myself.

Yeah. The plan should be go with the flow and try to win, and if things go south plan accordingly. We just aren’t there yet and there isn’t any shame in admitting that. We are about two years away from trading our franchise player. Wanting us to win is fine. Expecting us to win is foolish, so guys like Kira, Nickeil, Jax and company should be seeing plenty of minutes. Not the Etwaun’s, Reddick, Bledsoe’s and Frank Jackson’s (albeit Bledsoe is a slightly different case because of the money he is on).

Our FO is either overly ambitious, downright stupid or under pressure from ownership (or a combination of all 3). We need to swallow our pride and let this tank ride. No shame- don’t let the national media tempt you into making stupid decisions and rush the rebuild.

[Pelicanidae]

Yeah. The plan should be go with the flow and try to win, and if things go south plan accordingly. We just aren’t there yet and there isn’t any shame in admitting that. We are about two years away from trading our franchise player. Wanting us to win is fine. Expecting us to win is foolish, so guys like Kira, Nickeil, Jax and company should be seeing plenty of minutes. Not the Etwaun’s, Reddick, Bledsoe’s and Frank Jackson’s (albeit Bledsoe is a slightly different case because of the money he is on).

Our FO is either overly ambitious, downright stupid or under pressure from ownership (or a combination of all 3). We need to swallow our pride and let this tank ride. No shame- don’t let the national media tempt you into making stupid decisions and rush the rebuild.

For real. The future of this team is in the youth and (potentially) what we do with this upcoming draft pick. So play the youth and it may well help maximise the pick as well; that's not trying to lose, it's just focusing on the future.

Nobody is saying we need to do an OKC - they literally just sent Horford home to chill out we're not saying that, nobody is suggesting you don't play anyone over the age of 24 or anything like that, just focus on giving opportunities to the youth and planning for the future. Odds are that will come along with losses as well, which does have the draft pick bonus, but the losses are not the focus: if we end up winning 9/12 games giving heavy minutes to Kira/Jax/Naji then so be it!

[JJackisangry]

For real. The future of this team is in the youth and (potentially) what we do with this upcoming draft pick. So play the youth and it may well help maximise the pick as well; that's not trying to lose, it's just focusing on the future.

Nobody is saying we need to do an OKC - they literally just sent Horford home to chill out we're not saying that, nobody is suggesting you don't play anyone over the age of 24 or anything like that, just focus on giving opportunities to the youth and planning for the future. Odds are that will come along with losses as well, which does have the draft pick bonus, but the losses are not the focus: if we end up winning 9/12 games giving heavy minutes to Kira/Jax/Naji then so be it!

I do wonder if the national media is partially responsible for egging us on a bit. They act like it’s a travesty that Zion’s team isn’t 72-0, yet fail to mention that:

A. Most rebuilding teams don’t reach greatness right off the bat
B. We don’t have the right pieces in place yet to complement Zion (and understandably because this is year freakin 2 of the rebuild).

They are putting unrealistic expectations on us because they want Zion out of NOLA. It’s simple. While I don’t think highly of our franchise historically and the moves we have made, it’s absurd that we are under this much pressure already. I just wish they would lay off for a New York minute. We get it. You don’t like us

[Pelicanidae]

I do wonder if the national media is partially responsible for egging us on a bit. They act like it’s a travesty that Zion’s team isn’t 72-0, yet fail to mention that:

A. Most rebuilding teams don’t reach greatness right off the bat
B. We don’t have the right pieces in place yet to complement Zion (and understandably because this is year freakin 2 of the rebuild).

They are putting unrealistic expectations on us because they want Zion out of NOLA. It’s simple. While I don’t think highly of our franchise historically and the moves we have made, it’s absurd that we are under this much pressure already. I just wish they would lay off for a New York minute. We get it. You don’t like us

You're right to an extent, and I think that some of the fans have been guilty of doing the same thing. We've seen people talking about how in comparison the Suns rebuild only took a year or two! Which is nonsense because they've been rebuilding for like 7 years but because they just got a new coach and CP3 turned up a lot of people have mentally re-set the clock for them, whereas for us they're keeping the same clock running from when Demps and Gentry were here; it's a double standard that makes us look far worse in comparison.

[JJackisangry]

You're right to an extent, and I think that some of the fans have been guilty of doing the same thing. We've seen people talking about how in comparison the Suns rebuild only took a year or two! Which is nonsense because they've been rebuilding for like 7 years but because they just got a new coach and CP3 turned up a lot of people have mentally re-set the clock for them, whereas for us they're keeping the same clock running from when Demps and Gentry were here; it's a double standard that makes us look far worse in comparison.

I do think we have underachieved to an extent, but that isn’t saying much. At best we are an 8th seed. Does that really get us much more than playoff experience? No- I am completely fine with where we are as a result of underachieving- in fact, we are better off just sucking for Moody or someone of that caliber. The reason why we aren’t in the playoff picture is we completely lack any spacing and don’t defend. You can argue that we have thrown away way too many games- I think it’s fair to blame the coach for that a bit. He hasn’t been perfect. But teams absolutely stack the box against us knowing we won’t make shots when we need to. They also know they can take free cheap shots at Zion (and Ingram for that matter) without any repercussions. All I can say is we need 3 and D pronto.

[Pelicanidae]

I do think we have underachieved to an extent, but that isn’t saying much. At best we are an 8th seed. Does that really get us much more than playoff experience? No- I am completely fine with where we are as a result of underachieving- in fact, we are better off just sucking for Moody or someone of that caliber. The reason why we aren’t in the playoff picture is we completely lack any spacing and don’t defend. You can argue that we have thrown away way too many games- I think it’s fair to blame the coach for that a bit. He hasn’t been perfect. But teams absolutely stack the box against us knowing we won’t make shots when we need to. They also know they can take free cheap shots at Zion (and Ingram for that matter) without any repercussions. All I can say is we need 3 and D pronto.

For me, if I had to blame one single thing for the poor season, it would be the defense. Yes, the spacing isn't optimal and in a playoff context it would be more of a problem but whatever else is true this team has a solid offense overall for the regular season. If our defense was even just 20th instead of 27th, not even good just less bad, we'd be like 33-26 right now

Shamit and Mason were saying on the last episode of the InTheNO pod that there's this stat out there: if games stopped at 45 minutes instead of 48, the Pels would be (I think) 35-24 on the season. That's how many last minute leads we've blown. If we were capable of stopping a handful of buckets per game, we'd be a far far superior team. Again, that's regular season: the offense isn't diverse enough to stand up in the playoffs yet, but the defense has been the single biggest killer, followed by the clutch decision making.

Shooters and defenders: the thing the whole league needs

[Pelicanidae]

We're letting Lonzo initiate half-court offense uh

It's not pretty.