As much as preseason basketball is about rhythm and a slight warm up for regular season, it’s also about staying healthy. In a game that had many twists and turns, both teams’ starters collectively played less than in their first outings. Outside of OKC’s Paul George and NOLA’s Jrue Holiday no starter played over 20 minutes. In a game driven by star power OKC stood strong, never looking uncomfortable and consistently ready to strike.
The Pelicans had no answer for Paul George (25 points,12 in the game deciding third quarter, on 7-14 shooting). New Orleans as a whole struggled for stretches with mental mistakes, and stale offensive possessions. After Rajon Rondo’s exit in the first quarter the offense became predictable. Not until the third quarter were they able to establish a consistent rhythm. After going into halftime leading 53-44, led by a10-0 Jrue Holiday run, the Pels’ managed to let OKC regain early game momentum in route to an end score of 102-91, in favor of the Thunder.
Takeaways:
1.The defense should be fine
In a game with 35 total turnovers, it’s safe to say the game was pretty sloppy. The Pelicans should still be proud by their performance defensively. When facing a team with Paul George, Carmelo Anthony, and Russell Westbrook on the roster, no task should be considered “easy”. The Pels’ communicated well, and also attacked close outs much better than game one. NOLA forced 7 first quarter turnovers, appeared extremely active on and off the ball, and forced OKC into a stockpile of tough shots. When playing teams like Oklahoma City on the road those things will happen, it’s the intensity that mattered.
2.The offense looked stale without Rondo and Boogie
An addition of Rajon Rondo was supposed to provide Jrue Holiday the opportunity to play off the ball and be more aggressive. With Rondo on the floor the Pels played up tempo and the ball movement was fluid. Unfortunately, once Rondo went down the offense mainly ran through DeMarcus Cousins, to which we saw the New Orleans version of the 2010-16 Sacramento Kings. The New Orleans Kings? Sacramento Pelicans? Either way, it’s not an ideal way of playing. Cousins touched the ball at least once every time up the floor, whether it turned into a dribble drive, an open shot, or a pick and roll opportunity; the Pelicans had a chance to score every time down the floor.
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Once Boogie was done for the night the offensive stalled completely. Anthony Davis never looked comfortable, and was double teamed constantly, and Holiday looked unsure of when to attack, and when to facilitate. The role players, in turn, seemed to struggle immensely. Starting small forward Dante Cunningham didn’t score a point. On the bright side, E’Twaun Moore did better than Cunningham; he scored 1 point. In the regular season we’ll of course see a lot more of Boogie and Davis, but it would be nice to see the offense not struggle without them. That leads up to Jrue.
3. Jrue Holiday the 6th man?
We saw this last year after Boogie arrived, Jrue Holiday just doesn’t look comfortable playing with Cousins and Davis. Though the team would LOVE him to attack consistently and slash to the rim , Holiday seems more at ease being somewhat of a role player. It’s no coincidence he appeared more confident and willing to attack once both big men were off the floor, scoring all of his 11 points in the 3rd quarter. It’s very unlikely Jrue would move to a 6th man role, for defensive and overall talent purposes. Don’t be surprised however if Alvin Gentry starts to tinker with the lineup, playing Jrue more with the second team.
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Looking ahead:
The Pelicans get a rematch of their first preseason opponent the Chicago Bulls Sunday. (2-1) It’ll be interesting to see how the team responses to another slightly disappointing outing, and the overall health of Rajon Rondo. Will we see more of Jrue with the second team? Will we finally see Tony Allen? We all look forward to finding out in a couple of days.