December 5th - New Orleans Pelicans VS Dallas Mavericks - 12-13
Back again, at home, this time versus the Dallas Mavericks. Of course they have one big attraction: Luka Dončić. He is, as far as all appearances go at this point in his rookie year, fantastic. He has real potential to be a serious, serious player in this league: a top 10 or even top 5 player, if all his potential plays out. Unfortunately, the Hawks were wrong again, so he's in the West instead of the East. Nice. Tonight will be a great chance for Pels fans to see one of the NBA's future stars in person; hopefully, his star won't shine too bright tonight and we can get the win.
But of course, Luka is not the only player on the Mavericks, so let's look at the team overall.
Offensive Rating: 12th
Defensive Rating: 10th
Rebounds per game: 25th
Assists per game: 23rd
Steals per game: 20th
Blocks per game: 24th
2pt percentage: 11th
3pt percentage: 14th
This is a team that plays at the league's 14th fastest pace, so they aren't really prepared to run with us, and the stats across the board aren't exactly sparkling, but the fact is that this is a team that's basically top ten in offense and defense. That's why they're 12-10. They won't outrebound you, or swat you at the rim on every possession, nor will they have dazzling playmaking sequences from the whole team, but that doesn't matter when they are hitting shots and getting stops from disciplined defense.
Key players: Obviously, Luka. He is currently averaging basically 19/7/4 on 44/38/79 splits. For a rookie who carries so much attention, that's some pretty good efficiency, especially from three. His real flaw is defense: he isn't a tragedy on that end of the floor, of course, and the fact that he's a small forward who usually ends up on guards helps him with a size advantage, but he does have a negative net rating, and opponents shoot 6.1% better than their averages against him. For all of his talents and promise, he can be exploited on the defensive end of the floor. That, and he gives up basically 4 turnovers a game: he can be too loose with the ball sometimes, and I expect us to try and use that to our advantage on defense.
Next up, they have DeAndre Jordan, who is currently their leader in net rating, win shares, and rebounds. He's putting up 12pts and 14 rebounds a night, which is extremely impressive, although his offensive rebounding rate is down based on past years. The trick here isn't anything special: he's not gonna drop 50 on anyone, but he might grab 25 rebounds if you let him. The key is for AD and Randle to prevent a repeat performance of the Heat game: there, AD had 0 rebounds in the first half, and a large part of that was Whiteside stealing every rebound. We can't allow DJ to give the Mavs the same kind of advantage.
Finally, it's Harrison Barnes, averaging 18 ppg and shooting 40% from 3. He's Harrison Barnes, and he can shoot a little. He can create his own shot, but he doesn't playmake. He's pretty good in the clutch, and he's the kind of guy who can go off for 30 on any night, so he'll need to be given defensive attention.
AD said it himself: the problem on defense is usually not schematic. It's effort. We play hardnosed, gritty defense in the second half trying to make comebacks, but we only need to make comebacks because the defense is nonexistent in first halves. If we rebound hard, keep DJ off the glass, pressure Luka on the ball, and play some defense for once, we should be able to get this home win.
Let's go, and #DoItBig.
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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae
