New Orleans Pelicans: Setting up week one of the Pelicans’ 2019-2020 season

Saturday Night in Texas – New Orleans Pelicans @ Houston Rockets

This summer, the Rockets traded franchise point guard Chris Paul to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for their franchise point guard and heart of the city, Russell Westbrook. This move reunited former Thunder teammates James Harden and Westbrook for the first time since their OKC days in which they lead Oklahoma City to the NBA Finals against the Miami Heat.

This dynamic backcourt will not only thrive in open court and transition but will also have the ability to distribute in creative ways and score in large volume over the course of the season. Putting Russell Westbrook on the Houston Rockets will allow the team to play under Mike D’Antoni’s system even more so and also pair two guys who both have the ability to drop triple-doubles on a nightly basis.

Westbrook over the last few years has not had many knockdown three-point snipers on his Thunder teams and comes into a Houston situation with an embarrassment of riches in this department. With Westbrook’s ability to break down defenses off of the dribble and get into the paint, he will be able to feed the likes of Eric Gordon, James Harden, P.J. Tucker, Ryan Andersen and more who are all very capable of hitting the three-point shot at a high percentage. It will be crucial for Jrue Holiday to press up on ball handlers, whether that be Harden or Westbrook as taking time and space away from them is key in creating turnovers and mistakes.

The Pelicans will also have to defend the three-point line Saturday night in Houston as the Rockets led the Western Conference in three-point attempts last season. Expect that to be no different this season, only now they have an athletic point guard to feed these snipers in both transition and on kick-outs.

One distinct recipe for success Alvin Gentry may look to take against Houston would be slowing down the game and trying to get Houston to play in the half-court offense as much as possible. This can be done by both being efficient on the offensive end in allowing your team to get back and set on defense as well as pressuring ball handlers so that they cannot create dribble penetration. Players like Lonzo Ball and Jrue Holiday being on the court together will pay dividends against lineups like these because they are among the best at pressuring the perimeter in the entire Association.

Both of these teams will be experiencing with different lineups early on in the season and it will be much easier for the Pelicans to try to snake bite the Rockets on the road early in the season, as opposed to later even despite the absence of Zion for the first few weeks.

This Pelicans team proved in the preseason with five consecutive wins, that this team is here to fight and compete every single night no matter the opponent. Getting production out of their young draft picks was a huge positive as well as integrating the new Los Angeles Lakers trio into the system seemed almost flawless.

Now the real test begins, as the Pelicans undertake an eighty-two game project to try to position themselves in the top eight in the chaotically competitive Western Conference. With Zion being out, it will be very challenging, however, if there is one thing we have learned from the Pelicans to this point – they stand by their motto; The Pelicans won’t bow down. Game on.