February 25th - New Orleans Pelicans @ Milwaukee Bucks - 14-17

[Pelicanidae]

Quick turnaround after last night's win with another opportunity tonight!

🏀 at Milwaukee
🕣 8:30 p.m. CT
📺 @NBAonTNT
📻 100.3 FM @ESPNRadioNOLA @SmoothieKing | #WontBowDown pic.twitter.com/0ONgKdtZsn

— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) February 25, 2021

Pels pulled off a win against the dreadful Pistons last night at home and now they're on the road against a very different beast: the 19-13 Milwaukee Bucks.

They have won 3 straight after losing their previous 5 straight, which included losses against OKC and Phoenix. During that span they were missing Jrue Holiday: guess what? He's listed doubtful for tonight's game as well. I'll update when it's confirmed if he's playing or not.

Milwaukee is currently ranked 4th in ORtg and 10th in DRtg. While currently disappointing compared to last year's domination, they're still a good team overall and have largely played the season well. That said, we have already beaten them once this season: 131-126 back on January 29th. In that game, Zion had 21/9/7 on 54% from the floor, Lonzo Ball had 27/3/8 on 50/53 splits, and Ingram chipped in a cool 28/0/4 on 47/39/84 too. Bledsoe also shot 7/14 from 3 and finished with 25, as the icing on the cake.

JJ Redick did not play that game.

Meanwhile, the Bucks had a relatively pedestrian game: Khris Middleton in particular struggled hard.

The fact that we only just beat them despite all that means that we cannot come into tonight complacent, especially on the second night of a back to back. Of course, we know that winning tonight is a tall order - that's why it was so vital to wrap up yesterday with a W - but it's not entirely off the table, especially if Jrue ends up missing the game. A third win, this one on the road against another good team, would be a great way to follow up last two games.

[13 - 3]

If JJ is playing tonight we lose.

[pelafanatic]

A little standings update, the Pels are now one game behind the Grizz for 10th in the West, and 1.5 behind the Mavs for 9th. More positively, we are 7th in the west in net rating at 0.0, which shows me that our biggest issue is we just don’t know how to close games yet. Patience everyone

[As I See It]

I hope Zion rested well last night, otherwise we might as well call in the forfeit now.

[13 - 3]

We officially just got through the easy part of our schedule. It won’t be easy now. Look at next week schedule. Hope I’m wrong but I sense another losing streak

[As I See It]

We officially just got through the easy part of our schedule. It won’t be easy now. Look at next week schedule. Hope I’m wrong but I sense another losing streak

Haven't you read; it all depends on whether others get out of Zion's way, or not?

[luckyman]

If this isn't a complete blowout I'll take that as a win. Line is Bucks -9. Not as crazy as a lot of lines I've seen all year.

I'd take the Pels on a small one.

[Freyfamilyreuni]

Haven't you read; it all depends on whether others get out of Zion's way, or not?

Boy you've really been doubling down on your bad takes haven't you? I think many of us are just pointing out what's very obvious. Offensively this team is more effecient when Zion is initiating the action and Brandon is playing off of Zion. Which makes a lot of sense. Zion can more easily get to the basket and force the opposing team to funnel into him, and Brandon is better at playing off the ball and hitting an open shot. When Brandon is forcing the action, usuallly you have Zion standing in the corner which takes away a spot up shooter for Brandon to dish to. Which in turn allows teams to make life more difficult for Brandon. Which often results in a turnover or a forced mid range shot.
This isn't disparaging Brandon, it's just stating that their respective strengths are better suited for Brandon playing off of Zion than vice versa. Now if they can start to establish a good two man game, perhaps with BI and Zion playing a pick and role more often, things might be different.

[luckyman]

Boy you've really been doubling down on your bad takes haven't you? I think many of us are just pointing out what's very obvious. Offensively this team is more effecient when Zion is initiating the action and Brandon is playing off of Zion. Which makes a lot of sense. Zion can more easily get to the basket and force the opposing team to funnel into him, and Brandon is better at playing off the ball and hitting an open shot. When Brandon is forcing the action, usuallly you have Zion standing in the corner which takes away a spot up shooter for Brandon to dish to. Which in turn allows teams to make life more difficult for Brandon. Which often results in a turnover or a forced mid range shot.
This isn't disparaging Brandon, it's just stating that their respective strengths are better suited for Brandon playing off of Zion than vice versa. Now if they can start to establish a good two man game, perhaps with BI and Zion playing a pick and role more often, things might be different.

I highly doubt you'll ever see much of Zion and BI in a PnR and I've stated the reasons why a few times now. The defenders guarding them will already be too similar. We already saw how that can blow up at the end of the Portland game. Stan probably still shell shocked from that decision alone. The best way to maximize those two is to simply have them both on the same side of the floor. Or have BI in the opposite corner of a Zion drive, in his line of sight.

Otherwise, if Zion or BI has a smaller/larger man already guarding them, then there is no reason to involve them in a PnR. Defeats the purpose. Just drive and kick or iso.

[Freyfamilyreuni]

I highly doubt you'll ever see much of Zion and BI in a PnR and I've stated the reasons why a few times now. The defenders guarding them will already be too similar. We already saw how that can blow up at the end of the Portland game. Stan probably still shell shocked from that decision alone. The best way to maximize those two is to simply have them both on the same side of the floor. Or have BI in the opposite corner of a Zion drive, in his line of sight.

Otherwise, if Zion or BI has a smaller/larger man already guarding them, then there is no reason to involve them in a PnR. Defeats the purpose. Just drive and kick or iso.

I don't know. Bird and Parish always ran a pretty good pick and roll even if they were being guarded by similar sized defenders. But, Zion's height might cause some problems with BI getting the pass to him over bigger defenders. I did see one pretty pick and roll between them a couple of weeks ago, but yea I kind of forgot the train wreck that was the end of the Portland game. Perhaps I intentionally blacked it out from my memory.

[ramsters60]

Haven't you read; it all depends on whether others get out of Zion's way, or not?

we get it that Zion can not do it all by himself, and the fact is, the final outcome almost always comes down to the play of others on the team (Ingram needs to play well as do a couple or three others if they want a win ).... now with that said, if you want to deal with superlatives, Zion leaps to the forefront as well he should.... I sure would like to see you move on from this shtick....

[KoMikaera]

Just for fun, Zion vs Giannis showdown...who dominates ?

[donato]

No Jrue, no Augustin.

[Pelicanidae]

No Jrue, no Augustin.

Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said DJ Augustin (personal/family reasons) is very doubtful for tonight’s game.

But did add “it’s a good thing” with a smile. DJ was a late add to the injury report.

Jrue Holiday (doubtful) won’t play.

Bobby Portis (probable) will play.

— Andrew Lopez (@_Andrew_Lopez) February 26, 2021

[Pelicanidae]

Just for fun, Zion vs Giannis showdown...who dominates ?

Right now, Giannis is the better player.

As for domination, it's hard to say: Zion was completely stifled the first time he played Giannis in his rookie year, but that was with a slightly different setup than the Bucks have today in terms of defense, and obviously he had only played small handful of games at that point and was coming off an injury. Then, the second time they faced off - this season - Giannis put on a great performance and so did Zion but it was an unusual game in terms of team performance (4 guys scored at least 20 for us that night) so Zion wasn't required to dominate in the same way as he might otherwise be; it was a very different context.

Purely head to head, right now, Giannis is the better player. But who dominates on a given night could be very context dependent.

[AusPel]

Dat anthem

[KoMikaera]

Right now, Giannis is the better player.

As for domination, it's hard to say: Zion was completely stifled the first time he played Giannis in his rookie year, but that was with a slightly different setup than the Bucks have today in terms of defense, and obviously he had only played small handful of games at that point and was coming off an injury. Then, the second time they faced off - this season - Giannis put on a great performance and so did Zion but it was an unusual game in terms of team performance (4 guys scored at least 20 for us that night) so Zion wasn't required to dominate in the same way as he might otherwise be; it was a very different context.

Purely head to head, right now, Giannis is the better player. But who dominates on a given night could be very context dependent.

yeah, fascinating sub plot this match up and comparison between these guys, looking forward to how it pans out...

[AusPel]

The open threes begins

[da ThRONe]

Bobby Portis is having a big start.

[da ThRONe]

The open threes begins

When did they end?

[AusPel]

Can we have a blanket ban on anyone called Eric joining the team?

Thanks

[AusPel]

When did they end?

Very good point

1st quarter Ball is best Ball

[da ThRONe]

Say what you want about Lonzo you have to respect the work he's done with his jumper.

[AusPel]

Yikes

Where's the offense gonna come from when Zion sits?

He's gonna need to play 40 mins tonight

[AusPel]

Giannis was scared to take it into Hart then