Coming off another loss, this time to Dallas, the Pelicans are in an awkward position. The playoffs are still in the cards, but it would require stealing a win here and there against good teams, and being almost flawless against bad teams. This is, of course, possible, but it's far from easy and if there's anything the Pelicans have proven this year, it's that you can't guarantee they're going to show up even when the win is there for the taking.
That brings us into tonight.
THIS GAME IS SCHEDULED TO TIP OFF AT 7PM CST; 1AM GMT
Tonight we take on the Miami Heat, at home. The Heat are a weird team; they're 40-22, so unquestionably a solid team, but they're only 6-7 over their last 13 games, having picked up some good wins (Dallas, Milwaukee) but having also lost to a bunch of teams you'd expect a top 4 seed to beat (losses to Sacramento, Portland, Atlanta, Cleveland, Minnesota).
This is partly because, putting it simply, the Heat are a pretty middling road team; they're 13-18 on the road this season, compared to a much more dominant 27-4 at home. And luckily, we're facing them at home. They're the road team. So far so good.
So, what are the Heat good at? Well, they're 2nd in the NBA in 3pt%. Part of this is due to Tyler Herro shooting 40%, but he's still listed as out so he won't be involved in that. Instead, Duncan Robinson is shooting 44.6% on 8 3PAs a game, and that combines with Dragic up to 38% and Crowder shooting 42% on 7 3PAs per game in 11 games for the Heat to provide an offense that stretches defenses thin. That's going to be an issue for us, especially our tendency to desert the corner 3 on rotation. Its this shooting that drives their ORtg, 7th in the NBA.
They also get to the line; 4th in FTAs, the Heat only shoot a mediocre 78% from the line (13th in the league) but the volume is worrying. Avoiding fouling should be something our guys have in mind (as it honestly always should be ).
Aside from that they're fairly middling everywhere; they crack the top 10 in assists, barely, but they are 16th in REBs, 16th in TOVs, 13th in PFs, 21st in STLS, 23rd in BLKs, etc. Just all very middling; the key is that while they're not great at much, they aren't the worst at anything either. They are 12th in DRtg, so we also have to be aware that while they aren't the Bucks, the Heat are a team with capable defensive pieces.
So that's the brief going into this game. Against a team this bad on the road, we're at home, our pride should be stung from those losses, this should be a win. Like I said up top, the playoffs still aren't completely out of bounds but if we lose tonight then this week will really have been a huge missed opportunity. Gotta go out and play like we want it.
#WBD