December 7th - New Orleans Pelicans VS Los Angeles Lakers - VEGAS - 12-10

[Pelicanidae]

Vegas Baby!

🏀: vs Lakers
🕗: 8:00 pm CT
📺: TNT/TRUTV
📻: @995WRNO #Pelicans | @SmoothieKing pic.twitter.com/022xocFGMh

— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) December 7, 2023

On the road again! Sort of... ish. Nobody is at home, but they're more at home than we are given that it's Vegas.

Today we take on the LA Lakers. Everyone is healthy but Nance and Matt Ryan.

I mentioned it in the other thread but the challenge of this game is going to be consistency. We know that historically, Zion and BI show up against LA; while you can't just assume they will do it because they've done it before, it does mean there is a track record there that implies that they're not going to both vanish. At least one of them should have a good game, and probably both. Their stars also historically show up against New Orleans, so there's every chance that this will be a battle of the gameplan and a battle of the roleplayers.

Now, in terms of roleplayers, I think we have a distinct advantage. Our 3rd and 4th guys are CJ and JV - frankly, nobody on the Lakers is on that level after Lebron and AD. Then our 5th and 6th guys are Herb and Trey. Again, nobody they have measures up in a similar respect.

Gameplan and consistency will be the challenge for us. We need to outshoot them from 3 - it shouldn't be that hard, thy're 29th in 3PT% as a team, but we also have a tendency for extended cold streaks and we can't afford that tonight. Similarly, they are one of the worst teams in the league at getting to the basket and driving whereas we're pretty good; that has to remain true tonight. We can't allow them to get out in transition and we can't allow them to drive consistently. The key to beating them is to prevent them from getting to the rim (which they find difficulty at the best of times) and to outshoot them. On paper, we can do that. Reality is sometimes different.

Of course I've yet to mention the refs but we all know what's happening there - we will be playing 5 on 8.

Let's see if the Pels can do it!

[Freyfamilyreuni]

Vegas Baby!

��: vs Lakers
��: 8:00 pm CT
��: TNT/TRUTV
��: @995WRNO #Pelicans | @SmoothieKing pic.twitter.com/022xocFGMh

? New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) December 7, 2023

On the road again! Sort of... ish. Nobody is at home, but they're more at home than we are given that it's Vegas.

We need to outshoot them from 3 - it shouldn't be that hard, thy're 29th in 3PT% as a team, but we also have a tendency for extended cold streaks and we can't afford that tonight. Similarly, they are one of the worst teams in the league at getting to the basket and driving whereas we're pretty good; that has to remain true tonight. We can't allow them to get out in transition and we can't allow them to drive consistently. The key to beating them is to prevent them from getting to the rim (which they find difficulty at the best of times) and to outshoot them. On paper, we can do that. Reality is sometimes different.

Of course I've yet to mention the refs but we all know what's happening there - we will be playing 5 on 8.

Let's see if the Pels can do it!

We really haven't had any extended cold spells from 3 in the games that Trey and CJ have both been back. Granted a very, very limited sample size. The one thing that worries me about this game is rebounding. Someone needs to light a fire under Zion to get him to help Jonas out on the boards. While he struggled in a number of areas in the last game, the one real glaring problem I saw is his lack of defensive rebounding. He just stood and watched under the basket while the other team got repeated possessions way too much. I'm hoping we saw a Zion who's legs and air were spents after getting his first taste of three games in four days. With the two days off, Zion should be his most explosive.

As for the refs, it's not like the Pels aren't used to getting shafted by the refs. We just need to keep it out of their hands as much as possible. Herb especially needs to be careful about picking up ticky tack fouls early on. He's way too valuable at the end of close games.

[Pelicanidae]

We really haven't had any extended cold spells from 3 in the games that Trey and CJ have both been back. Granted a very, very limited sample size. The one thing that worries me about this game is rebounding. Someone needs to light a fire under Zion to get him to help Jonas out on the boards. While he struggled in a number of areas in the last game, the one real glaring problem I saw is his lack of defensive rebounding. He just stood and watched under the basket while the other team got repeated possessions way too much. I'm hoping we saw a Zion who's legs and air were spents after getting his first taste of three games in four days. With the two days off, Zion should be his most explosive.

As for the refs, it's not like the Pels aren't used to getting shafted by the refs. We just need to keep it out of their hands as much as possible. Herb especially needs to be careful about picking up ticky tack fouls early on. He's way too valuable at the end of close games.

I get the concern about Zion's rebounding, but honestly, I think it's both overblown and misdirected.

Does he need to rebound better? Yes, he's averaging his lowest REB% of his career. It's clearly an issue and while part of it is gameplanning (he's constantly defending the perimeter, for example) not all of it is. Effort needs to be better on the glass, undoubtedly.

But he's not the only one on this team who is a poor or unenthusiastic rebounder 90% of the time and it is somewhat concerning to me that so much of the criticism on the team's rebounding falls on the 6'6 guy averaging 6.7rbds per 36, not on Herb (6'8, 4.8r/36), Dyson Daniels (6'8, 6.5r/36), Brandon Ingram (6'8, 5.6r/36), or - in his short time back - Trey Murphy (6'8, 3.5r/36).

We have a team full of wings that don't rebound. Zion is part of the problem but he's not the only one, and the fact that all of the discussion surrounding our rebounding falls on him and almost never on anyone else is weird to me, it feels like it comes from people's preconceived notions of Zion rather than what's actually happening on court. Even if you just reduce it to DREBs, since Zion gets OREBs at a good rate, he still rebounds more per 36 than Herb and Trey, and again, radio silence.

Does Zion need to be a better rebounder? Unquestionably, yes. Do we need to stop acting like he's the only one on the team who needs to be a better rebounder? Also yes.

The team needs to be better at it.

[Pelicanidae]

Other than ''protect them rim, get a lot of threes up'', here are a few more notes on things the Pels might want to try tonight from time to time:

- When AD sits, go with the Zion + Shooters lineup. Either AD has to play 45 minutes or there's going to be minutes on end where they don't have a mega-defender gluing things together against our most potent offense.
- No Zion post ups please. Don't do that. Especially when AD is in. Unnecessary and probably ineffective.
- If they play Jaxson Hayes, let Jonas destroy him
- Herb Jones on Lebron please, at least for stretches where Lebron is initiating (often)
- Last game BI got about 4 wide open 3PAs off the Zion DHO action. Do that some more, please. Widen's BI's game up immensely.

[PELICANSFAN]

If Refs call Herb close (as expected), we are in for a long night.

[Pelicanidae]

If Refs call Herb close (as expected), we are in for a long night.

They're gonna whistle Herb twice in the first 3 minutes for nonsense like ''holding'' and ''loose ball foul'' that never happened, and then call a charge on Zion on a perfectly legal drive, and then swallow their whistle on a foul against BI, and we're going to go absolutely nuts.

[Mrakar]

If we want to win we have to do following things:
- box-out/get defensive rebounds - we somehow suck at rebounding even though we have size across all positions and we can't allow them too many extra possessions.
- limit turnovers. Lebron is great in transition and almost every turnover will be 2 points for Lakers. We need to make them play half-court offense.
- our coaches have to freak out after couple bad calls but players have to stay calm. We all know they will call couple quick ones on Herb and Jonas and that they will swallow the whistle on the other end. Willie needs to challenge something early and get a tech early. However our players need to stay calm and continue to play.

If we do this, we have really good chance, if not Lakers will punish us for everything. Lebron is extra motivated and he will have his teammates, coaches and crowd motivated and he will also work the refs from the start.
I don't think AD will hurt us, i'm more affraid of some random guy getting hot, like Russell, Vincent or Prince.

[PELICANSFAN]

They're gonna whistle Herb twice in the first 3 minutes for nonsense like ''holding'' and ''loose ball foul'' that never happened, and then call a charge on Zion on a perfectly legal drive, and then swallow their whistle on a foul against BI, and we're going to go absolutely nuts.

Supposedly Scott Foster got assigned. Shocker.

[Pelicanidae]

Now that the Pacers have put away the Bucks, I've seen some people saying that we're doomed because Adam Silver will not allow Pelicans vs Pacers as the finals in the inaugural In Season Tournament.

But the real fans want to see Herb Jones on Tyrese Haliburton.

[Pelicanidae]

Barkley favours the Pels to win. Says he'd be surprised if Lakers won, thinks ''Ingram and McCollum and Zion are going to win''. Says the only reason the crowd disagrees is that Vegas is closer to LA than it is New Orleans.

Shaq challenged him to bet on it, which is a very funny thing to use as a dare against an openly frequent and willing gambler like Chuck.

[6warddude]

i didnt see anyone say it on the kings board unless i over looked it but i want to give CJ credit for being engaged on defense against the kings...he held his own and did a good job...hope he has that mindset tonight...

the lakers are built like us on defense....lebron, AD, vanderbilt, rui and reddish are a good defensive lineup with scoring...then you have prince,,jax and christie to mix in there...

this should be a great game....i want to see how we're going to attack them and the adjustments through out the game..

and i hope russell dont be the odd guy to go off tonight....

go pels...

[Pelicanidae]

The Lakers have the same problem every Lebron team has.

When Lebron is not on the court, they suck. That's just the reality. Their offense with him on is 89th percentile in terms of points per possession, 97th percentile in eFG%, and 66th percentile in TOV%. When he sits, their offense is 8th percentile in ppp, 5th percentile in eFG%, and 30th in TOV%.

That's legitimately ''top 3 in the league'' to ''worst in the NBA'' swing.

Their 2nd most used lineup without Lebron is DLo, Reaves, Prince, AD, Wood, and that squad gives up a -38.9 ppp differential.

When Lebron sits, we need to hit them hard. Either he's playing 45 minutes or they're losing, that has to be the mindset.

Data via Cleaning the Glass, so garbage time not counted.

[Pelicanidae]

Game predicted to start about 20-25 minutes late according to Jim Eichenhofer - last game went over expected time apparently, so previous expected start time (in 10 minutes) got pushed back.

[6warddude]

lebron and AD playing 40mins tonight for them to win.....zion got to break AD chest tonight lol...

[Pelicanidae]

CJ bailing out that broken possession.

Lakers are getting very physical very early.

This court is hideous.

[Pelicanidae]

I do not like this slow, grinding basketball with CJ pounding the rock for 8 seconds at a time.

The Lakers are bad on offense, they're good on defense. Stop giving them all the time in the world to adjust, set the defense, help, etc.

Some off ball movement from Zion or BI would be nice.

[Pelicanidae]

Lakers have made the wise move of defending Zion with Lebron.

They will not call fouls on Lebron. It's just not going to happen, even normal ref crews. He can shove, hold, whack, etc, as much as he wants and the refs will not call it.

[hornetsrebirth]

Zion should challenge lebron every time on offense. Lebron cant stop Zion... AD can, but not Lebron

[Pelicanidae]

BI to the hoop.

If Lebron's going to drop that far into the paint, Zion should just come out on the perimeter and screen. No use trying to get inside position there

[Pelicanidae]

Really nice hand off and screen from JV gives Zion a clear curl to the hoop. AD got lost in the action.

[Pelicanidae]

I said before the game I was expecting, within the first quarter:

- 2 bad calls on Herb
- A no call on BI that ruins a shot
- A garbage charge call on Zion

We have now had the no call and the charge. Waiting for the Herb whistles.

[Pelicanidae]

Zion buckets!

[Pelicanidae]

This is when I don't like the midrangers.

Fighting and fighting and fighting to get an entry pass to BI so he can take a turnaround 15 footer over someone just as big as he is.

Horrible process.

[Pelicanidae]

Jose 3!

Dude lives for these games.

[hornetsrebirth]

JV dunked on AD