Pelica Debrief
Fansided

New Orleans Pelicans Weekly Recap: Win Number One and another injury

By Brendon Kleen

Nov 12, 2016; New Orleans, LA, USA; The New Orleans Pelicans bench looks on during the fourth quarter of a game against the Los Angeles Lakers at the Smoothie King Center. The Lakers defeated the Pelicans 126-99. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 12, 2016; New Orleans, LA, USA; The New Orleans Pelicans bench looks on during the fourth quarter of a game against the Los Angeles Lakers at the Smoothie King Center. The Lakers defeated the Pelicans 126-99. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

The New Orleans Pelicans won their first game and got lots of injury news shoved back into the forefront of the NBA world this week.

This was an up-and-down week in the world of the New Orleans Pelicans. Glory be to all the beat writers proud enough to keep giving us the news and tidbits we need. We have Jrue Holiday’s return to look forward to next week. Amen.

LAST WEEK

Monday @ Golden State Warriors: L

Stephen Curry broke the record for three-pointers made in a single game, and the Pelicans lost again.

The Pelicans held up decently; Tim Frazier and E’Twaun Moore actually made Curry work for his shots more often than he normally does, and Frazier notched a triple-double. An AD 33-13 line is becoming commonplace, and saddening.

OUR PLAYER GRADES FROM THAT NIGHT

Tuesday @ Sacramento Kings: L

Tuesday marked another night during the early part of this season in which the Pelicans slogged through a loss. That’s more worrisome than the rotation or strategy if you’re looking at Alvin Gentry’s job security.

I’ve always been as big a Dante Cunningham fan as any, but he’s not a starter, on this team or any. Come on, Alvin.

OUR PLAYER GRADES FROM THAT NIGHT

Thursday @ Milwaukee Bucks: W

FINALLY.

“It’s about damn time.”- Anthony Davis to Jen Hale following the game. We’re with you, AD. This was also one of the first truly fun Buddy Hield games, as the rook made 3 of 6 attempts and affected the game positively on offense for the first time all year.

OUR PLAYER GRADES FROM THAT NIGHT

Saturday vs. Los Angeles Lakers: L

What a disaster. Quite possibly everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong on Saturday night in New Orleans. Somehow a Lakers team full of twenty-somethings looked the part of a disciplined, veteran squad over the full 48 minutes. The result was a 27-point loss.

The Lakers’ backcourt took turns dominating, with Lou Williams, Jordan Clarkson, and D’Angelo Russell each contributing over long stretches. Unfortunately, the Pelicans’ morass of guards could do nothing to prevent this scoring punch.

Davis fell awkwardly after a beautiful spin into a layup and was forced to leave the game for a few minutes to tend to what became back pain. Luke Walton’s Lakers took advantage, like good teams do. The game got out of hand in the third quarter, and no amount of fight from the Pelicans would be enough to return from the deficit. Loss.

OUR PLAYER GRADES FROM THAT NIGHT

BEST OF PELICAN DEBRIEF

Andrew Huff looks into Buddy’s early-season shooting struggles and how the mentality of a shooter can help them overcome such slumps.

Yours truly (Co-Editor Brendon Kleen) looks into the growing concern from fans and writers that the Pelicans’ decision to ignore offensive rebounding is the biggest problem facing this team on offense. Not true! Fixing the problems on offense runs deeper; pace, chemistry, and even Anthony Davis himself are to blame at varying degrees.

BEST OF THE REST OF THE WEB

Chris Herring (late of the Wall Street Journal, now of ESPN’s FiveThirtyEight) wrote his first piece for 538 on Anthony Davis’s greatness, and its context in terms of team play over the past thirty years. He uses Basketball-Reference’s Game Score to show that he is even further past his contemporaries in terms of ignored success in the early season.

The most interesting tidbit here is Herring’s lack of enthusiasm about Tim Frazier, especially on defense. I beg to differ; Frazier has used his jitterbug peskiness very well this season, bothering guys like Stephen Curry or D’Angelo Russell just enough to make up for a height disadvantage.

Either way, Davis has far too much responsibility and far too bad luck to compete every night at the top of his game.

Related Story: The Pelicans must lessen the load on Anthony Davis

THIS WEEK

Monday vs. Boston Celtics

Wednesday @ Orlando Magic

Friday vs. Portland Trailblazers

Saturday vs. Charlotte Hornets

Rough. Three solid teams, maybe better than any the Pelicans have played outside of the Spurs and Warriors. Luckily, they are all home games, for whatever that’s worth. If the team’s going to make a run at home, this is the week to push for it.

However, Davis’s health is a concern going into Monday night’s game against the Celts. It’s very hard to ignore concerns like these for your best player, especially if he’s as brittle as Davis has always been. Further, Jrue Holiday is expected to return on Wednesday when the Pels travel to Orlando.

Next: Free Agent Expectation vs. Reality: Moore vs. Hill

Fingers crossed.

Home/Pelicans News