Love seeing people on twitter getting mad at how late this game is on for them Keep seeing them like ''this game doesn't even start until 10:30! TEN. THIRTY. PM.!!!!''
Almost every game starts at 1am here or later but okay
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Love seeing people on twitter getting mad at how late this game is on for them Keep seeing them like ''this game doesn't even start until 10:30! TEN. THIRTY. PM.!!!!''
Almost every game starts at 1am here or later but okay
Basketball.
Listening to the most recent episode of the In The N.O. pod, and Shamit is talking about how hard Jax is competing on defense. He makes a pretty good point: even though he's too light right now to really have the top level impact that his build implies as a post defender, he's really really fighting there. Shamit points out that maybe, perhaps, that comes from the football player in him. Which I hadn't really thought about, but seems to make sense to me.
He also points out that Hayes, despite being 30lbs lighter than he will probably end up at in two or three years, is totally happy to play centre as a rookie whereas another Pelicans player who came into the league with a similar build and somewhat underweight was very very reluctant to start at the 5.
It's part of what's impressed me most about Jax, is how much he's willing to put his body into the game. Obviously he has a long way to go in terms of his physique (and all of these skills will get even better as his weight goes up), but his willingness to box out, his willingness to set real screens that make real contact, his willingness to body guys up in the post; all of that is really great to see, especially when it would be understandable if a guy with his build was a little more conservative on that front.
I'm looking forward to this game a lot because without Baynes and Ayton, the Suns are going to be relying on probably Frank Kaminsky and Diallo as their main bigs, and Jaxson should be able to absolutely put in good work on them both.
Two pages already?!
I felt like I missed tipoff for a minute.
Try to keep the page count low, fellas. We are 4-0 when thread pages are below 8 pages.
I made that up. But it does seem like a thing.
BI, Zion, and CJ had a net rating of +3 when on the court together. BI and Zion had a +13.4, BI and CJ had a +13.2, Zion and CJ was just +5.4.
BI and Zion worked. BI and CJ worked. It was CJ and Zion and all three together that didn't work.
I think Lonzo is best as our starter. Especially when Zion is back. Jrue does not need to be handling the rock. Ball will push that pace and keep down the TOs BUUUUUUUUT we really won't see how much that is needed until Zion is back. We will be so freaking fast. Jrue looks discombobulated when he is PG at that tempo. But Ball moving Jrue, Zion, and BI will be amazing. So much more so if Hayes can sneak into that lineup. Plus, JJ is the perfect 6th man.
So Dae, in your OP, when you say the Pels have gone from 28th D to 24th.....that is season's average, right? Because if so, we would have had to be in the teens for a week or two to raise that average up, eh? That would be one giant improvement.
Yeah, that's season's average. Our overall defensive rating is 112.1, which is Very Not Good, but there's been a little improvement. Despite some horrible defensive ratings recently (121 vs the Clippers), we've managed to maintain a defensive rating under 104 in both of the last two games. A season-long DRTG of 104 or below would be a top 10 DRTG in the NBA, so that should tell you how much those two games were in terms of improvement over the start of the season.
Of course, it's also relative: it's not just that our defense has improved over the last few games, although it has, it's also because other teams have regressed a little. The Spurs, for example, started off the season as a not-great-but-not-truly-terrible defensive team, but over their last two weeks that's cratered. In their last few games, the Spurs have put up DRTGs of 114.5 v OKC, 130.1 v Boston, 113.9 v Memphis, 127 vs Minnesota, 117.2 v Orlando, 116.1 v Portland, 124.3 v Dallas, and 130.3 v Washington. The result has been their DRTG crashing down into the bottom 5, bumping us up a spot.
I got a fever, and the only prescription is more NAW and Jax.
I actually think that this idea that Jrue shouldn't be allowed to start at PG is a weird one. I get that he feels more comfortable listed at the 2 guard, but in reality I think that's less because he feels he is a True Two, and more because he hates being the only capable ball-handler on the court. It puts too much pressure on him, to initiate everything for everyone all the time, and he had to do it for so many losing years that I feel he's beyond that.
As long as you keep someone else on the court who can handle the ball, take some of that offensive load away from Jrue and operate some of the offense to allow Jrue to move off ball, I don't know if it really matters if Jrue is listed at the PG or SG position at all. And we do have guys that can do that now: Ingram, for example, in the starting lineup.
Also, Jrue's averaging 7.3 assists per game, not over 8, but yeah still very good. Top 10 in the NBA.
only 1.5 games out of 8th if they pull off this win tonight
Pelicans sticking with the same starting lineup:
— Will Guillory (@WillGuillory) November 22, 2019
Holiday
Redick
Ingram
Williams
Hayes
Starting lineup remains the same. Hoping for more Hayes tonight: he's the guy I'm really having fun watching develop most right now, and I was super sad he only got 21 minutes last game.
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