4th February - New Orleans Pelicans vs Milwaukee Bucks - 20-30

[SeapeaNOLA]

I threw a towel at my tv. I just dont understand this ********. Why take out players who are leading a comeback ? It's almost like he is working for the other team.

Because Zion is human and needs a break? Dude just came back, why risk a stupid injury for the sake of maybe winning the game?

[msusousaphone]

Overall a good game. That's the difference 4 to 7 years of experience between star players will get you. We'll be there in a few seasons.

[Nichols]

A better coach might have won us about 8 games this year

True, and you guys have me seeing the light now.

I thought you guys were too hard on Jrue, and I thought you guys might be a little too hard on the coach starting the season..

I see it now lol..

[AtlPelsFan]

Because Zion is human and needs a break? Dude just came back, why risk a stupid injury for the sake of maybe winning the game?

He took out multiple players for players who.were cold, not just zion.

[Nichols]

I think we're missing a veteran closer guys.. and I thought that guy was Jrue going into this season.

[luckyman]

Shot 49 threes tonight. I dont care how well the Bucks guard the rim. Make them prove it. Dont bail them out by jackin.

But, this coach will have absolutely no problem with that.

[Pelicanidae]

End of the game. Full statlines from all.

Ingram: 32 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 1 block. 12/19 shooting (63.2%), 3/9 from 3. 3TOs, 3 fouls. - 17
Lonzo: 11 points, 14 rebounds, 3 assists. 4/12 shooting (33.3%), 3/10 from 3 (30%). 4 turnovers, 2 fouls. -11
Zion: 20 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal. 5/18 shooting (27.8%) but was 10/14 from the line. 5 turnovers, 3 fouls. -11
Jrue 7 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks. 3/14 shooting (21.4%), 1/6 from 3 (16.7%). 4 turnovers, 2 fouls. -18
Favors: 0 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block. 0/3 shooting (0%). 1 foul, 2 turnovers. -26

Bench

Hart: 8 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, 1 block. 3/9 shooting (33.3%), 1/6 from 3 (16.7%). +10
Redick: 13 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists, 1 steal. 5/10 shooting (50%), 2/5 from 3 (40%). +1
Melli: 9 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists. 3/6 shooting, 3/5 from 3. +5
Moore: 8 points, 1 rebound. 3/7 shooting (42.9%), 1/4 from 3. +0
Jaxson: 0 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists. +7 (only 4 minutes played).

Both are starting guards were terrible tonight. Jrue defended well but was a none-factor offensively, Lonzo rebounded well but was otherwise absent for almost the entire game. Zion surged late and got to the line a ton, but had his most inefficient game since before he even joined Duke. Favors was held scoreless. Ingram had (in my opinion ) a poor defensive game, but was really good offensively most of the night.

We got beaten by the best team in the NBA. Oh well, on to the next one.

[luckyman]

BI had 32, Zion had 20. You'd like the 3rd leg to at least reach 15/16. That would possibly put the game within reach.

Yet, he delivers a second straight stinker. Not just a bad game, but a putrid stinker.

[Pelicanidae]

About to look up the advanced stats from tonight. Expecting Zion to lead the team in screen assists. Not expecting very good boxout numbers from anyone. 2pt contests numbers will probably be very low. Not expecting great REB%s. We'll see. TS% will be down for everyone but Ingram, I reckon

[Fedupfan]

That's a losers mentality. We can be better.

Couldn’t agree more. Dude killed momentum all night with dumb substitutions. He barely plays the starters together. Players like Favors can’t get in a rhythm with the way they are used. The sooner he is gone, the more we will know about how good this team can be. No way is this a 20 and 31 team. Sad situation for the fans.

[Pelicanidae]

Looking at tonight's shot charts... so baffling. Obviously a lot of it is explained by the Bucks defense but not all of it.

This was the final 6 minutes of the game for the Pelicans:

- Ingram misses a 3
- Lonzo turns it over
- Jrue misses a long 2
- Hart misses a 3
- Lonzo hits a layup
- Lonzo misses a 3
- Zion turns it over
- Ingram makes layup
- Jrue makes layup
- Ingram makes layup
- Jrue misses 3
- Jrue misses 3

That's your game. Pels go 4/10 in the final 6 minutes of the game. Zion takes 0 shots in the final 6 minutes of another game. We score on 4/4 on layups, but settle for threes and long jumpers.

Obviously it wasn't an empty court, the Bucks were actively denying certain shots, it's not like the paint was wide open and everyone just decided not to go for it. But it's still not pretty to see it laid out like that.

[Eman5805]

That's a losers mentality. We can be better.

And still probably lose. There are limits.

[Nichols]

I could be wrong but I don't see the Pels ever firing Gentry.. So I'm not sure where we go from here.

[Pelicanidae]

Advanced Stats for Tonight
minimum 15 minutes played

Best TS%: Nicolo Melli, 75%. Followed by Ingram, at 73.9%
Worst TS%: Derrick Favors, 0%
Highest REB%: Lonzo Ball, 14.7%. Nobody else had more than 10%.
Highest AST%: Zion Williamson, 26.3%

Highest Net Rating: Josh Hart, +14.7
Lowest Net Rating: Derrick Favors, -44.6 (every starter had a negative, including the first negative of Zion's career)

Will add deflections, screen assists, etc, when NBA stats updates to include them.

[As I See It]

Hopefully,Melli has trumped JAX in playing time until playoffs is no longer an option.

[Pelicanidae]

Gentry on what makes the Bucks so good in the paint:

“They never leave. They never leave the paint. Lopez has a condo in there. Go back and watch and see how many times he leaves the paint. That’s all I’m gonna say.”

— Andrew Lopez (@_Andrew_Lopez) February 5, 2020

[Nichols]

Gentry on what makes the Bucks so good in the paint:

“They never leave. They never leave the paint. Lopez has a condo in there. Go back and watch and see how many times he leaves the paint. That’s all I’m gonna say.”

— Andrew Lopez (@_Andrew_Lopez) February 5, 2020

[Creative]

You can't win with NBA best team when You play that bad in the 3 quarter… We still have a lot work to do...

And YES - give Me Gary Harris , Michael Porter Jr and Denver first pick and We can move on … sorry Jrue...

[Pelicanidae]

I think what we have to really look at this as, regardless of how ugly it was at times, is a 12 point loss to the best team in the NBA. Gotta just ignore all the mess that came in between.

They beat the Clippers by worse than this just gotta take that beating and move on.

[Eman5805]

From a team framework standpoint. What would we need to challenge the Bucks? Clearly, players who value the ball more. And more length. But I feel like we need guys who can also play both ends of the court effectively. Jrue so desperately wants to be Harden on offense, but he just doesn't have the natural skill and talent.

[Pelicanidae]

From a team framework standpoint. What would we need to challenge the Bucks? Clearly, players who value the ball more. And more length. But I feel like we need guys who can also play both ends of the court effectively. Jrue so desperately wants to be Harden on offense, but he just doesn't have the natural skill and talent.

I don't think it's a case of him not having the skill and talent, it's that he doesn't have that skill or talent.

Jrue needs to be put in the position where he's a secondary playmaker, a tertiary scorer, and a primary defender. That's when he's at his absolute best.

Unfortunately, we have a team where there are huge swathes of time where he's being asked to be the primary playmaker, the secondary scorer, and the primary defender, all at the same time. The result is that he reaches his limit and the base falls out from underneath. We need more structure in our offense, and it needs to be structure that puts the ball in someone else's hands. That's difficult though because Lonzo cannot run halfcourt offense. Everything becomes so much harder from that.

[Pelicanidae]

Zion postgame.

''It's frustrating sometimes, when I feel like I can't do my 45 inch vert layup or dunk, I get 30 or 35, but I can't make no excuses. They played great defense.''

''I mean [Giannis] is his own player, he brings his own style to the game, but when I'm out there I think about creating for myself and my teammates and trying to get the win.

''I remember I looked at Lonzo and I said ''I feel like I'm shooting too much'' and he told me I should never feel like that. So I kept going.''

''People bring different physicality, like last game Tucker brought his own physicality, but I think you have to adjust on the fly. If you wanna be a great player in this game you have to adjust on the fly.''

[Pelicanidae]

Four of our last 6 games were against opponents that were over .500 at the time we played them.

Only 9 of our next 31 opponents are currently at or above .500.

[Pelicanidae]

Pels from now until all-star break:

@ Bulls
@ Pacers
V Blazers
V Thunder

2-2 over those 4 games sounds nice.

Our next 6 games after that (making it 10 total games from now)

@ Blazers
@ Warriors
@ Lakers
V Cavs
V Lakers
V Wolves

Could easily be something like 4-2 in that span. So, something like 6-4 over our next 10, please?

[Eman5805]

I don't think it's a case of him not having the skill and talent, it's that he doesn't have that skill or talent.

Jrue needs to be put in the position where he's a secondary playmaker, a tertiary scorer, and a primary defender. That's when he's at his absolute best.

Unfortunately, we have a team where there are huge swathes of time where he's being asked to be the primary playmaker, the secondary scorer, and the primary defender, all at the same time. The result is that he reaches his limit and the base falls out from underneath. We need more structure in our offense, and it needs to be structure that puts the ball in someone else's hands. That's difficult though because Lonzo cannot run halfcourt offense. Everything becomes so much harder from that.

It's moments like that where, ever so briefly, I do wonder how we'd fare if we had a more offensive creator instead of Jrue. But his defense is too valuable as well.