Welcome to the NBA Hangover. We jot down NBA stuff mostly from last night that we want to talk about. Check it out.
The New Orleans Pelicans have won four straight.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Gerald Herbert/AP.)
The New Orleans Pelicans surprised everyone by going through this 13-game swoon earlier this season. They were better than an atrocious 6-22 record. They have won 5 of 6 games since then and we’ll get to that in a bit.
You look up and down that roster and they have a nice mix of youthful talent and veterans that have been there. It’s not like they were going to win the championship (obviously, we have no idea if Zion Williamson is in that LeBron tier, even this early) but I figured they would challenge for a playoff spot (yeah, I had them at 36 wins but I already knew Zion was going to be out by that point).
But they also couldn’t afford to lose anyone to get to that point. Brandon Ingram has been excellent this season; he’s averaging a cool 25.3 points and 7 boards per game. Jrue Holiday is doing his usual yeoman’s work as he holds down the perimeter on the defensive end and scoring nearly 20 points on offense. The ageless J.J. Redick is shooting 45 percent from three. Lonzo Ball will drive anyone mad but he finally broke out with a 27-10-8 game.
So how come it took so long to get to these winning ways?
Their losing skid coincided with the absence of Derrick Favors.
Favors was a sacrifice by the Utah Jazz, who decided they needed more scoring and figured they’d be okay defensively. He’s gone through unfortunate injuries and tragedy in the last month or so. The Pelicans couldn’t hold down the fort with Favors out and their defense suffered.
Favors came back December 13th but the Pelicans still endured three more losses. But as Favors’ playing time increased, it seemed like their chances of winning got larger. He’s averaged 13.2 boards in that 5-1 Pellies run.
The Pelicans have also allowed only 100.5 points per 100 possessions in those six games. If we go back to December 18 when the run started, the Pelicans are third in defensive rating (again, points allowed per 100 possessions) in that period.
The defense has been their weakness; the Pelicans had been in the bottom three in defensive rating for most of the season. But now with the return of Derrick Favors and help in the paint, they might have an easier time stopping from other teams to score. And the funny thing is that while they dug a pretty deep hole for themselves, they’re not the only ones that buried themselves. Portland is hanging on to the 8th spot and they’re only 3.5 games ahead of the Pelicans. Whoops.
If only we know Zion Williamson‘s REAL status…
Bullet Passes
I’m sure the Rockets fans are all, “Yeah, we lost to the Pelicans but we didn’t have James Harden, Russell Westbrook, and Clint Capela…” A win is a win. No team is going to feel sorry for them. Each team has their own litany of problems, too.
For example, the Pelicans didn’t have Zion Williamson!
Denver has won 9 of 10 games. I still picked them to be the #1 seed in the West and they’re only 2.5 games behind the #1 Lakers. They’re not getting enough pub because small market and no drama or whatever.
The Lakers kept pace with the Nuggets by beating Dallas in what seemed like an anticlimactic game. The Lakers kept the Mavericks in check and held them to 95 points. That was the Mavs’ lowest scoring game of the season.
Smooth Shai Gilgeous-Alexander continues to do well. He had ANOTHER 32-point game and scored the game-winner IN Toronto‘s house. Impressive, man.
The Scoreboard
OKC 98 (17-15) @ TOR 97 (22-11)
CHA 104 (13-22) @ MEM 117 (13-21)
HOU 112 (22-11) @ NO 127 (11-23)
SAC 115 (12-21) @ DEN 120 (23-9)
DAL 95 (21-11) @ LAL 108 (26-7)
Watch This Play
Chris Boucher grabs this from the sky and Darius Bazley had no idea.
(VIDEO CREDIT: VL.)
I love that Boucher has gotten regular PT with the Raptors now.
Rey-Rey is on Twitter at @TheNoLookPass.
TNLP on FaceBook.