December 11th - New Orleans Pelicans vs Minnesota Timberwolves - 12-11

[Pelicanidae]

Back at it tonight!

🏀: vs Timberwolves
🕗: 7:00 pm CT
📺: @BallySportsNO
📻: @995WRNO#Pelicans | @SmoothieKing pic.twitter.com/v1dNzQmIni

— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) December 11, 2023

Probably the worst game we could have after the debacle that was the Lakers game, because it's the kind of game you could lose even if you were playing well (Minnesota are currently 17-4 and the best team in the NBA by record). After that terrible loss, a loss tonight will cause half the fanbase to spontaneously combust despite it being entirely predictable.

Nobody can deny that the Lakers game was a disaster. Zion had his worst game as a professional and looked horrible. Nobody else picked up any of the slack - every single starter finished that game worse than -20 on the +/-, and everyone's advanced stats took a firm hit afterwards. It was a horror show.

But a lot of people forget that the Lakers themselves lost a game about 2 weeks ago by 44, and then another by 23 days days later. What mattered to them is how they come back from it - hell, Denver won the championship last year and they lost a game by 30 and went 1-5 over a stretch just after all-star break. Adversity hits most teams, the question is the response.

Now, as I said, this is a game that we could lose in any circumstance because of the opponent. So while I want a win, I won't demand one - what I do demand, however, is improved play.

- Zion needs to be better overall. Both ends of the ball, rebounding, aggression and looking for his shot, everything. We know he can do it, so he must do it now. In fact, he was doing it just recently, in that stretch we went 5-1. Need that back.
- BI took 0 threes last game and went 4/13 overall from the floor; I'm looking for a bounce back game shooting.
- Same for CJ, who went 4/14 from the floor last game.
- JV had a horrible rebounding night last game, not even reaching 5. I'm hoping for him to compete way more against the giants in Minnesota, because we'll need him.

If those things happen and we get serviceable shooting from Trey, Hawkins (if he plays), Herb, Jose, Naji, then win or lose I'll be happy to see the team competing again.

Let's see if there's a bounceback.

[As I See It]

Trey needs to start at the 4...PERIOD!!!!



DEFENSE...DEFENSE....DEFENSE!!!

[Mrakar]

Lakers game wasn't end of the world. We still can be very good team.
That said, Minny is bad matchup for us because of rebounding. Unless we have outstanding shooting night i don't see us winning this one.

[6warddude]

hawkins should get some run tonight since the playoffs are over for this year..... i dont want to see dyson guarding Kat tonight...

i think we come out and play a good game and win tonight..if willie matchup against kat and gobert the right way..

[Pelicanidae]

Lakers game wasn't end of the world. We still can be very good team.
That said, Minny is bad matchup for us because of rebounding. Unless we have outstanding shooting night i don't see us winning this one.

It all depends on how we react. I agree with this though.

Like I said in the OP, every team - even good teams - take horrible losses. Lakers lost a game by 44 two weeks ago, and the Nuggets lost a game by 30 last year. The year they went 73-9, the Warriors had multiple blowout losses: of their 9 losses, they were by 13, 23, 2, 17, 32, 19, 8 (in a game where they only scored 79 points), 3, and 7.

The loss to the Lakers was horrible but it's ultimately still one game. You can't let it define your whole season - the team has to come back from it. What will define the season is whether they can do that or not. If they can't, then things gotta go. If they can, then people will largely forget about this loss by all-star break.

[hornetsrebirth]

I will be watching because I'm very interested to know how the team responds after the collapse. Especially Zion and Willie, but also CJ and BI.

[hornetsrebirth]

Lakers game wasn't end of the world. We still can be very good team.
That said, Minny is bad matchup for us because of rebounding. Unless we have outstanding shooting night i don't see us winning this one.

Good chance for Zion to show up on the boards.

[Fedupfan]

I will be watching because I'm very interested to know how the team responds after the collapse. Especially Zion and Willie, but also CJ and BI.

I’m confident they will respond. I just think Zion knows that everyone sees his actions. His leash is gone.

[Pelicanidae]

Anthony Edwards (hip pointer) is out tonight for Timberwolves, per Chris Finch. Jaden McDaniels (ankle) is a game-time decision

— Jim Eichenhofer (@Jim_Eichenhofer) December 11, 2023

[Fedupfan]

Kat just tweaked his knee and started pointing to the outer left side and went to the locker room.

[Impose]

Man our schedule to this point feels like it's been brutal. Here's hoping we play hard tonight and have a few hot hands to carry us home.

[Pelicanidae]

Man our schedule to this point feels like it's been brutal. Here's hoping we play hard tonight and have a few hot hands to carry us home.

Our schedule for the rest of the month is pretty soft, so if there's ever a time to come back and rack up some wins, it's now.

[hornetsrebirth]

I think Herb is the only one of our starters who really has that dog in him, but he has the least seniority to hold the others accountable

[Pelicanidae]

That was an absurd call, ruined a perfectly good play

[Pelicanidae]

Love that by Trey and Herb to get the ball inside to JV. Make KAT defend in the post, he hates it.

[Pelicanidae]

Ugly drive on Trey, he wasn't quite sure if he was passing or shooting

[Pelicanidae]

Zion has already surpassed his rebound total for the Lakers game.

[hornetsrebirth]

Zion just grabbed a tough offensive rebound under the basket and hit a put back slam. That's doing the work

[Pelicanidae]

Zion defending in isolation, got beat but recovered the block the shot

[Pelicanidae]

Zion gets Naji a fairly clean corner three and instead Naji dribbles it out and misses a much harder shot lmao

[Pelicanidae]

Okay guys, let's summarise:

Zion Williamson in the ENTIRE Lakers game: 13/2/3 on 6/8 shooting, 1/7 from the FT line. 3TOs, 3 fouls.
Zion Williamson in the first 9 minutes played tonight: 9/3/1 with a block on 3/5 shooting, 3/4 from the FT line. 0TOS, 0 fouls.

[Pelicanidae]

JV with a nice bucket

[djrnno]

So Trey takes the SAME charge lbj does and a NO CALL SMH

[Pelicanidae]

Refs didn't call the foul on the drive for Herb and the Wolves were feeling good about it, so Herb just hit a 3 instead lmao

[djrnno]

So much for those great practises the last 2 days , they're ragged