January 18th - New Orleans Pelicans vs Miami Heat - 26-18

[Pelicanidae]

we're back 💜🏠

🕖: 7:00pm CT
📺: Bally Sports NO
📻: @995WRNO#Pelicans | @SmoothieKing pic.twitter.com/1Hlb4XPzJk

— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) January 18, 2023

New Orleans G/F Herb Jones (right low back contusion) has been downgraded to doubtful on Tuesday?s official injury report after missing the past three games listed as questionable. Four Pelicans players remain out, including Brandon Ingram (left great toe contusion), E.J. Liddell (right knee ACL injury recovery), Dereon Seabron (G League - two way) and Zion Williamson (right hamstring strain).

[Sovereign]

I'm feeling good about this one tbh

[Upper Decker]

I know the Heat are pretty banged up. I tried to find the injury report but could not. This will tell us a lot.

[superstar7th]

I'm feeling good about this one tbh

Win or close lost?

[PaKwAn]

On my pessimistic board for January i marked this down as a loss but in reality this one is a 50/50 game for us since we play at home despite the heat having a better coach and having jimmy butler as well. The good thing is that the Heat this year isn't really the heat of years past.

[Sovereign]

Win or close lost?

I'm leaning towards a win

[Impose]

Feeling like we need this one, hoping we don't get bogged down on offense and the 3 ball works for us tonight.

[AUSSIE_PELICAN]

I have watched 3 minutes of this game (I missed the start) and CJ has done nothing but turn the ball over.
He is horrible.

[AUSSIE_PELICAN]

Grow some balls Willy and stick up for your players

[PaKwAn]

So much for that 50/50 game, this one is ugly lol

[Impose]

We'll get enough stops, I hope. Willie needs to fire this team up, need a solid 12-0 run in the third to get life back in this game.

Starts with STOPS

[Fedupfan]

Willie isn’t coaching well at all. I know players are missing but he’s not getting anything out of these guys on defense and the offense is very stale.

[HorneyTexan]

We very little offense. CJ can get his shot. Sometimes JV can get his shot. Sometimes Naji can get his shot. But nobody else on our current active roster is a legitimate threat...they are all role players...truthfully Naji is too but he's stepped his game up. Nobody else has the confidence in their offensive game. We're a team that has to feed off our defense to get quick points in transition and you can't do that much when you're playing from behind. This is ugly basketball.

[hornetsrebirth]

I have watched 3 minutes of this game (I missed the start) and CJ has done nothing but turn the ball over.
He is horrible.

He is 5-6 from 3 point at the half, CJ is not the problem. Need some other guys not named Naji to step up... TM3, Jose, Daniels aren't doing enough with their extra minutes

[AtlPel]

I can see a possible trade coming if we continue to lose like this without 3 starters playing. We gotta get stronger behind our main players to really contend.

[AtlPel]

Kira Lewis should get some run in front of graham

[AUSSIE_PELICAN]

He is 5-6 from 3 point at the half, CJ is not the problem. Need some other guys not named Naji to step up... TM3, Jose, Daniels aren't doing enough with their extra minutes

Did you see the 3 TO's he committed in the first 1/2 of the first quarter?
It isn't about shooting 3's well.

[Impose]

Just isn't our night.

[JJackisangry]

We really needed that Nets game. The moral has definitely need wavering since then.

[RobertM320]

I know the Heat are pretty banged up. I tried to find the injury report but could not. This will tell us a lot.

Not sure where you got this from. I happened to be in the car during the pre-game, and Todd was talking with Gus and said that the Heat were going to have everyone healthy and available for this game. Maybe that's why you couldn't find an injury report. There were no injuries.

[PaKwAn]

I still have us having a 28-23 or 29-22 record by the end of January. The problem seems to be that we might not see both after the all star break. There's 7 games in that span where i think we might only win 2-3 games and that is even debatable.

[hornetsrebirth]

Kira Lewis should get some run in front of graham

In retrospect, this felt like a game where Kira would have been useful. They were pushing the pace on us and we struggled to keep up. Kira can speed up the game, he also just has an energy and hunger from not playing that can provide a spark now that our main role players are getting leaned on a little too much.

[PELICANSFAN]

In retrospect, this felt like a game where Kira would have been useful. They were pushing the pace on us and we struggled to keep up. Kira can speed up the game, he also just has an energy and hunger from not playing that can provide a spark now that our main role players are getting leaned on a little too much.

Was a little surprised to see Billy get run before Hayes early in the game. They brought him in as a second big in the role that Hayes had been playing.