Fresh week, fresh #PelicansGameday!
— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) April 4, 2021
🏀 at Houston
🕖 7 p.m. CT
📺 @BallySportsNO
📻 100.3 FM @ESPNRadioNOLA @SmoothieKing | #WontBowDown pic.twitter.com/UCY8Me6Ft5
So the big question for us here is this: what's going on with the injuries?
Well, a few notes here -
- Zion upgraded from out to questionable
- Ingram upgraded from out to questionable
- Lonzo upgraded from out to questionable
- Kira downgraded from fine to doubtful with a calf strain
Meanwhile Houston is similarly feeling the burn: in their last game, John Wall, David Nwaba, Eric Gordon, and Dante Exum all sat with injuries of various kinds.
Houston is, officially, one of the most dismal teams in the NBA. Despite starting the season 11-10, they have the second worst record in the league. Since Harden left, they have been tanking as hard as it is possible to tank. With only 2 wins since February 6th, their record over the past two months is 2-25, including a 20 game losing streak that lasted from February 6th to March 22nd, longer than the all-star break.
And get this? They have a much better defense than we do, 14th in the league That said, their offense is 27th in the NBA, so if there's any offense we might be able to slow down this is likely to be it.
Let's hope some of those questionable players end up playing; I'd like to see Zion and Ingram return, in particular.
This is one of those ''you really should win this one'' games. In this case, Houston isn't even trying to win, quite clearly. The players will be of course, but the franchise itself is in please-lose mode: they want to tank. Let them.