January 19th - New Orleans Pelicans vs Phoenix Suns - 25-17

[Pelicanidae]

Hoopin' on the city edition court tonight! 👀

Watch on @FOX8NOLA 📺

🏀: vs Suns
🕖: 7:00 pm CT
📻: @995WRNO #Pelicans | @SmoothieKing pic.twitter.com/eg0uJ5GrJ8

— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) January 19, 2024

Pelicans bringing out the Skelican court to play the Suns.

Suns have had a rough year so far with injuries to major players - something we definitely understand - but are still 22-18 overall with an 7-3 record over their last 10: they're in a good patch.

Still, they're not a perfect team. They suffer from being top heavy so that leaves an obvious pathway to attacking bench minutes. Secondly, as a team that generates a lot of stocks, the turnover prone Suns are a good opportunity to maximise that pickpocketing. They also don't take many 3s (27th in the NBA) so outshooting them in volume from behind the arc is possible, and they're a below average rebounding team (19th) so there's another avenue of attack.

This will be a tough game but it's also a winnable one if the team plays up to their potential. The Pelicans have been an all-league team for the last 5 weeks, and this is an opportunity for yet another statement win.

Let's see if they can pull that off.

[Mrakar]

They are heating up, i wouldnt mind a loss today. I would mind a dumb loss today.

Dont play Herb and Dyson together i dont care how many good guards they have. Put Naji in on Durant couple minutes. JV isnt great for this matchup IMO but we will see.
CJ has to take advantage of Beal and Nurkic.

[As I See It]

I'm sure that Herb will draw Booker, BI will get KD, and CJ will draw BB? We have to win two of those three matchups and I'm not necessarily talking about scoring.

AND

JV and MAX 197 have to have big games (especially on the defensive boards...can't allow second shots)

Might be one of those nights where we do see a lot of Herb and DD lineups....maybe even GTA.

[Pelicanidae]

They are heating up, i wouldnt mind a loss today. I would mind a dumb loss today.

Always the mood.

If you want to win 50 games in a season, you have to lose 32 times. That's fine. No team has ever gone 82-0, losses happen, it's not a huge deal. Losses, I can handle.

Ridiculous stupid losses that happen just because we refused to play good lineups, or because players took stupid shots, or because we had absurd live ball turnovers, or because of iso-ball decisions? Those are what sting. Please just, none of that. If we lose because Durant had 45 then okay, fine, but that's it.

[6warddude]

im looking forward to this game...i know cp3 is not there but its still the suns and this game should look like a playoff game tonight....

our big 3 against the suns big 3....it should be must see tv.......

go pels........

[WhyHornetsWhy]

Really nervous about this game…

Calm me down, Dae

[hornetsrebirth]

Corner 3 from Zion

[WhyHornetsWhy]

We sure struggle against good teams

[hornetsrebirth]

Devin Booker dropped 25 points in the first quarter, insane

[PaKwAn]

Booker just torched us....

[RobertM320]

Booker just torched us....

Its not even like most of the shots were uncontested. When Book gets on a heater, there's almost nothing anyone can do.

[WhyHornetsWhy]

How is this possible letting Booker put up 20+ when you have the all high and mighty defensive top tier talent in Herb Jones?

I'll tell you why:

Having good defense ain't going to do it.

You need offensive players to go point for point with them in this league.

Not have more good defensive players in the hopes of preventing their scorers from putting up points.

This is not how you become an elite team.

~

I will say it every day: A some type of combination between Herb, Dyson, or Naji and 2 1sts needs to be traded for a top scorer.

I would gladly take Dejounte Murray.

[As I See It]

Exactly, AD!!! You just don't don't shoot 'em for volume.

[PaKwAn]

Its not even like most of the shots were uncontested. When Book gets on a heater, there's almost nothing anyone can do.

Yep there was nothing we could have done to stop him when he is in that mode, unless we blitzed him and made the others beat us. The problem is the others are named durant beal gordon....

[Pelifan]

bench looks even worse than the starters. Really wouldn't mind some Jose right now.

[WhyHornetsWhy]

There's that ugly looking lay up from Trey I'd always see lol

[WhyHornetsWhy]

We are down 21. This game is over.

[PaKwAn]

bench looks even worse than the starters. Really wouldn't mind some Jose right now.

Yep, we badly need his energy tonight to hopefully turn things around

[WhyHornetsWhy]

Nuggets, Thunder, Suns, Clippers.

These are the four teams the Pelicans want to avoid entirely in the first round if they make the playoffs.

[hornetsrebirth]

Rare tech for Herb

[Fedupfan]

They just need a coach so bad.

[Fedupfan]

The meat gazing on Booker by Joel is disgusting. Dude won’t stop.

[Fedupfan]

Jonas too stupid to let go the rim and let the ball go in is about right.

[As I See It]

Max 197 doesn't have one rebound...not a one. He's such a liability on the defensive end.

[RobertM320]

Max 197 doesn't have one rebound...not a one. He's such a liability on the defensive end.

He also played most of his minutes in the first quarter, when the Suns DIDNT MISS, and most of the second quarter he played with 2 fouls, so couldn't be battling under the basket for rebounds.

CONTEXT matters.