January 7th - New Orleans Pelicans @ Sacramento Kings - 21-15

[Pelicanidae]

First stop Sacramento! 👊

🏀: vs Kings
🕔: 5:00 pm CT
📺: @BallySportsNO
📻: @99.5WRNO #Pelicans | @SmoothieKing pic.twitter.com/jfwmSoSU6t

— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) January 7, 2024

Last game was an ugly loss, but oh well. Hard to find anything good to say about it other than that it's over and we get to move on.

Tonight we're in Sacramento. So far, we've been pretty good against SAC this season which is good because we're playing them way more often than seems reasonable. Hopefully we can redeem some of that loss tonight.

Injury Report:
- Zion (Questionable: right quad contusion)
- Jose (Out: Non-COVID Illness)
- Matt Ryan (Out: Right elbow surgery)

Let's find out if the guys have it in them.

[As I See It]

If there is any utility left in Ricky Rubio, I would approach him to....

1) be a half year rental to provide stability at the PG position.
2) join coaching staff to mentor one player....Dyson Daniels.

Last game we were exposed as a weak team at the point of attack if BI is taken out of the game. It will be interesting to see if opposing teams adopt this gameplan when playing the Pelicans and how the team will respond to this tactic. This season has proven that CJ is better player when he plays off-ball, Point 197 has proven to be ineffective, Jose' is a defensive liability when on the court, and DD has not been given a real chance to run the team from the point of attack.

---

In any case, PG is the biggest need the team has had since Jrue left (and probably before).

The trajectory of the Rockets has taken massive strides forward with the arrival of Fred VanVleet, the Indiana Pacers have evolved into an offensive juggernaut with the addition of Tyrese Halliburton, Minnesota now leads the West with the addition of Mike Conley, Ja's return has made the 'Grizzles' relevant again despite having key players in the infirmary, and does anybody doubt the importance of Jalen Brunson to the Knicks. Meanwhile, the Lakers, Suns, and Raptors have all taken a step back by trying to run without a proven PG.

---

But, remember, none of this matters without....

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

[6warddude]

the kings were one of the teams who double ingram.. if it happens this game, i just want to see what is our plan B to counter ingram getting double once he cross half court bringing the ball up....we have enough games now to know that this is a problem now and we should see coaching adjustments....

jose is out so that will limit our ball handlers...

go pels..

[hornetsrebirth]

Its just a semantic thing so it doesnt matter, but its weird to me that Trey is considered to be playing as a forward and Herb is a guard (according to the graphic shown). Trey's game to me is 100 percent wing/SF and since herb plays tougher and doesn't have the range he could do things closer to the basket. Any who... here's hoping we have good ball movement this game and don't see iso ball.

[hornetsrebirth]

Jonas vs Sabonis is a fun battle, maybe just my imagination but it seems like he goes a little extra harder to prove he is still the main Lithuanian big man

[6warddude]

jonas eating early...

[6warddude]

Jonas vs Sabonis is a fun battle, maybe just my imagination but it seems like he goes a little extra harder to prove he is still the main Lithuanian big man

big brother,,lil brother thing lol...

[hornetsrebirth]

CJ ran up the court instead of accepting the inbound pass. He really doesnt see himself as PG lol

[hornetsrebirth]

Hawkins stroke looks gooooood

[As I See It]

I love our....

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

Everyone is helping out in the paint.

[As I See It]

I know some in here don't care for him, but Dyson has a sixth sense when it comes to team basketball. If you like Herb...you are going to love DD.

[hornetsrebirth]

CJ is doing his thing right now. He seems to do better when not sharing the floor with both Zion and BI. My theory is that being with two other ball dominant guys makes it harder for him to be great. He's not a natural 3rd option, he flourishes when he can be more aggressive and carry a bigger load offensively.

[6warddude]

time for us to go big and take advantage of them playing smallball...

[hornetsrebirth]

alley oop sighting! I love that. Pushing the ball with pace and then showing chemistry with ball movement. LOVE IT

[RobertM320]

25 point lead at half. 29-9 lead on the boards? Wow!

[As I See It]

Make no mistake, we scored 72 points in the first half (holding the Kings to 47), because we played....

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

(and only allowed the Kings one offensive rebound in the half)

[Pelicanidae]

Bounce back game for a lot of guys so far, love seeing JV get a little bit more opportunity - he always seems to go to work on Sabonis.

CJ's had a bunch of really hot first halves recently that seem to cool off heavy after half time. If he can keep it together tonight, this should be over already basically. That's a big if though.

I'd like to say that Herb and Trey could both be doing a bit more on the glass but it's really hard to say that when you're up 29-9 on the boards feels nitpicky

[RobertM320]

Or, conversely, we scored 72 points in the first half, because we shot 63% from the field, and 56% from 3pt land.

[RobertM320]

Make no mistake, we scored 72 points in the first half (holding the Kings to 47), because we played....

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

(and only allowed the Kings one offensive rebound in the half)

Always easier to play defense when the other team is taking the ball out of the net. Kings have ZERO fast break points in the first half.

[Pelicanidae]

CJ is doing his thing right now. He seems to do better when not sharing the floor with both Zion and BI. My theory is that being with two other ball dominant guys makes it harder for him to be great. He's not a natural 3rd option, he flourishes when he can be more aggressive and carry a bigger load offensively.

He's been fantastic as a 3rd option so far this season. Sure he's had off games, but he's shooting a career high %age from 3 on a career high 3pAr, resulting in a career high TS%, career high BPM, best AST/TO% ratio, and career high WS/48. When he's on ball he gets to show off a bit more of a flashy skillset which can look more comfortable because he's doing more stuff, but as the 3rd option he's having some of the best results of his career.

That is to say, it's far easier for him to be great as the 3rd option and we're seeing that in the results, it just doesn't look as flashy.

[hornetsrebirth]

Make no mistake, we scored 72 points in the first half (holding the Kings to 47), because we played....

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

(and only allowed the Kings one offensive rebound in the half)

Dude, you have to stop posting this. Enough is enough. We get it.

[hornetsrebirth]

He's been fantastic as a 3rd option so far this season. Sure he's had off games, but he's shooting a career high %age from 3 on a career high 3pAr, resulting in a career high TS%, career high BPM, best AST/TO% ratio, and career high WS/48. When he's on ball he gets to show off a bit more of a flashy skillset which can look more comfortable because he's doing more stuff, but as the 3rd option he's having some of the best results of his career.

That is to say, it's far easier for him to be great as the 3rd option and we're seeing that in the results, it just doesn't look as flashy.

Maybe so, but those stats don't prove it. We would have to see an analysis of how he's performed this year when on the court with BI and Zion vs when he's on the court without 1 of them. It could very well be that he is more productive when 1 of those guys is off the floor (because of injury or just resting).

[As I See It]

Dude, you have to stop posting this. Enough is enough. We get it.

"Enough is enough"?

LMAO!!!

[hornetsrebirth]

CJ 30 points halfway through the 3rd quarter

[hornetsrebirth]

Dyson with the great ball movement! Man he does have court vision. He isnt useless on offense despite the poor shooting