December 8th - New Orleans Pelicans vs Phoenix Suns - 16-8

[Pelicanidae]

Friday Night Showdown 👀

🕢: 7:30pm CT
📺: Bally Sports NO
📻: @995WRNO#Pelicans | @SmoothieKing pic.twitter.com/DIdUmv1JbB

— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) December 9, 2022

Big opportunity tonight for a statement. The Suns are the 2 seed in the West right now, and they're on our heels for #1. They're a good team over, and have the 4th best Net Rating in the NBA (We have the 2nd).

But they have struggled a bit recently. They've dropped 3 of their last 4, including losses to Houston and the Mavs - one of the worst teams in the NBA and another struggling team that's hovering around .500. Similarly, while Phoenix is 12-3 at home, they're only 4-6 on the road so far this season: this is not a team that's playing at it's best in other venues.

The Pelicans need to come out with a laser focus tonight. Everyone needs to be ready to put their nose to the grindstone and face whatever comes. Even if they've had a rough time of it recently, the Suns are not a joke team by any means. A win tonight would solidify our spot at the top of the West, even up the season series with Phoenix (we lost to them earlier in the year) and keep us at the top of the division. Sure, it's just one night in a long season, but as single nights go it's a fairly significant one.

Let's find out if the team is ready for the moment.

[Pelicanidae]

I put 8th in the title, it's the 9th, should've double checked it. Oh well, not the end of the world.

[The Dud]

Terrible time to have Herb out. By the end of playoffs with Suns, it was obvious Herb was very effective on Booker and Suns were completely fine with standing Booker in the corner on offense as long as Herb would just stand over there with him. Suns were happy to have Herb out of the picture and just let CP3 go to work on whoever the Pels wanted to throw at him.

Funny thing was, maybe the biggest basket of the year (if there IS such a thing) was the 3-pter by Booker at crunch time vs Herb...when, with the clock running down, CJ wanted to pass CP3 over to Herb...and when Herb took a step that direction away from Booker...CP3, OF COURSE...made the perfect pass at the perfect time. Be interesting to see how Dyson can fare tonight on defense whether it's vs Booker or CP3...one will wear you out with screens while the other is more likely to try & beat you, one on one.

[Upper Decker]

Who is going to guard Zion?

Obviously, no one can guard him one-on-one, but looking at the Suns roster (without Jae Crowder and Cam Johnson out), I see nobody who would even come close to slowing him down. Seriously, who they gonna put on Zion? Torrey Craig? Dude's getting ROASTED!

[The Dud]

Who is going to guard Zion?

Obviously, no one can guard him one-on-one, but looking at the Suns roster (without Jae Crowder and Cam Johnson out), I see nobody who would even come close to slowing him down. Seriously, who they gonna put on Zion? Torrey Craig? Dude's getting ROASTED!

Bridges will be the best defender on the court, but there's NO way they're putting Mikal ANYWHERE CLOSE to guarding Zion. Whoever ends up with this dubious job, I suggest they just stand one or two steps to Zion's left...and hope for the best.

[PaKwAn]

If bi herb and possibly jose missing tonights game it could get tough especially without jose who i think is the heart of the team and makes the 2nd unit a game changer. It might get frustrating watching cj and devonte run the point. The suns have the advantage with booker and ayton while we have the advantage with zion who they don't have an answer for. Should be a good game since i know the guys have been waiting to exact revenge against the suns

[6warddude]

Who is going to guard Zion?

Obviously, no one can guard him one-on-one, but looking at the Suns roster (without Jae Crowder and Cam Johnson out), I see nobody who would even come close to slowing him down. Seriously, who they gonna put on Zion? Torrey Craig? Dude's getting ROASTED!

question is , will zion be the go to guy coming out the gate to test the suns defenders and set the tone for the night...plus will the refs give him more than 10 free throws tonight if we let zion attack one on one by spreading the court...

[6warddude]

CJ might pull up all of the strength he has and hit 25 tonight...i hope so.

[PaKwAn]

CJ might pull up all of the strength he has and hit 25 tonight...i hope so.

25 shot attempts?

[Upper Decker]

question is , will zion be the go to guy coming out the gate to test the suns defenders and set the tone for the night...plus will the refs give him more than 10 free throws tonight if we let zion attack one on one by spreading the court...

I've gotta think the answer is a resounding yes, Zion's going to be aggressive from the jump. As for the refs, who knows!

Zion's been on fire. They've been in New Orleans for a whole week, so he's well-rested and they've actually been able to practice.

If I set the over/under for Zion points these next two games at 69, what you taking?

[Pelicanidae]

Pelicans have recalled Kira Lewis Jr. from the Squadron. He will be available tonight. Backup point guard Jose Alvarado is listed as questionable.

— Christian Clark (@cclark_13) December 9, 2022

The last time Kira played in a Pels uniform was december 8th 2021 - almost exactly one year ago.

[Pelicanidae]

I've gotta think the answer is a resounding yes, Zion's going to be aggressive from the jump. As for the refs, who knows!

Zion's been on fire. They've been in New Orleans for a whole week, so he's well-rested and they've actually been able to practice.

If I set the over/under for Zion points these next two games at 69, what you taking?

I'm going to say under just because I feel like he's going to get hosed by the refs tonight for no FTAs, but I could be entirely wrong. If he gets the right calls and is as aggressive as we want, over should be there.

[Pelicanidae]

25 shot attempts?

If he does that, he better be shooting 60%

[6warddude]

I've gotta think the answer is a resounding yes, Zion's going to be aggressive from the jump. As for the refs, who knows!

Zion's been on fire. They've been in New Orleans for a whole week, so he's well-rested and they've actually been able to practice.

If I set the over/under for Zion points these next two games at 69, what you taking?

if he get the free throws then it over....without the calls you looking at 60-66......

i did a crazy bet that jonas or dyson would score the first basket smh...+425 and +1300 why not right.....

[Pelicanidae]

This man was not gonna let CP3 off that easy https://t.co/Y84qUi16ZT

— Mason Ginsberg (@MasonGinsberg) December 10, 2022

[Pelicanidae]

Second game in a row that we're just not looking at Zion much to start. Not a fan of it.

[hornetsrebirth]

I feel like Jonas is only good at shooting 3s from the top of the key

[Pelicanidae]

Second game in a row that we're just not looking at Zion much to start. Not a fan of it.

There we go

[hornetsrebirth]

poor offensive possessions but defense was kind of holding up, then CP3 started to get loose so timeout from Willie Green

[Pelicanidae]

Time out could not have come quickly enough there

[stevemadden504]

JV must think he Ray Allen tonight

[PaKwAn]

Dyson's defense at 19yrs old is very impressive!

[hornetsrebirth]

Man CJ cant even hit a layup rn. I really hope this game is the start of him getting his groove back

[Pelicanidae]

Man CJ cant even hit a layup rn. I really hope this game is the start of him getting his groove back

CJ since coming back from covid: 8/33 shooting (24.2%) including 1/9 from 3 (11.1%)

[hornetsrebirth]

Jose came in and turned the tide immediately