aaaand we're back! #PelicansGameday
— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) March 11, 2021
🏀 vs. Minnesota
🕖 7 p.m. CT
📺 @FOXSportsNOLA
📻 100.3 FM @ESPNRadioNOLA @SmoothieKing | #WontBowDown pic.twitter.com/B2yW7by5vX
First game back after the All-Star break and we take on the Minnesota Timberwolves, who are currently a 7-29 team and the prohibitive favourites for the title of ''worst team in the NBA''.
That hasn't stopped us from losing to them this year: they hit us with a 10 point loss back in late January, and while we've generally been winning more since that time we've actually been on an embarrassing slide recently. We've lost 4 of our last 5, including against Chicago and the barely .500 Miami Heat. Some losses you understand (Milwaukee) but others just leave you feeling gross inside.
Minnesota are 29th in ORtg and 25th in DRtg; they rank top 5 in both blocks and steals but they foul like nobody's business, turn it over relatively frequently, don't really rebound particularly well, shoot 34% from 3 as a team, and are the 2nd worst team in the NBA in FG%.
This team in Minnesota is a dreadful squad. There is no real excuse for losing. But we're the Pelicans so we can't rest on any laurels and get complacent; either we put the pedal to the metal or we get smoked, that's how it is for us. We're not good enough to play casual with anyone.
Let's see which version of the Pels shows up.