Pelica Debrief
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What the New Orleans Pelicans rotation should look like vs. Spurs

By Matt Cianfrone

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Dec 31, 2014; San Antonio, TX, USA; San Antonio Spurs point guard

Cory Joseph

(5) shoots the ball as New Orleans Pelicans center Omer Asik (3) defends during the second half at AT&T Center. The Spurs won 95-93 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

The first quarter:

Tyreke Evans: First eight minutes.

Eric Gordon: First 10 minutes.

Quincy Pondexter: All 12 minutes

Anthony Davis: All 12 minutes

Omer Asik: First seven minutes.

Norris Cole: Last four minutes.

Jrue Holiday: Last two minutes.

Ryan Anderson: Last five minutes.

There are a few very important parts of the way the first quarter would break down. If the Pelicans are hanging with the Spurs for the first eight minutes of the quarter Evans would be the first guy to take out so that he can lead the second unit as Davis gets rest to start the second quarter. Asik resting for the final three minutes of the quarter falls under the same idea. With the Spurs offense being so quick and good, I would try to minimize the time that Alexis Ajicna has to be on the floor. By taking Asik out here he can return early in the second quarter to stabilize the defense again.

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    • Davis and Pondexter should be paired a lot in this game because of Pondexter’s shooting. Quincy is not only the Pelicans best wing defender but also the best wing shooter meaning that he needs to stay on the floor as much as possible so Davis is not stuck playing alongside Dante Cunningham and seeing the court shrink.

    By using Gordon for 10 minutes and replacing him with Holiday the spacing is kept up as well and if Cole is on tonight his replacing Evans for the final four minutes of the quarter would actually increase that space. Holiday is being held back a bit here to save the majority of his minutes for the second half.

    Davis is obviously going to be on the floor for a ton of minutes tonight but this is the normal way Monty uses him in the first quarter anyway. His getting off to a quick start is going to be huge in this game.

    Next: Davis rest time

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