New Orleans Pelicans: 3 Keys to Victory Against the Kings

Get to the Line and Make Them Pay

Since the return of Zion, the New Orleans Pelicans have dominated teams on the free throw line. They are up to the 14th most attempts per game, and that’s with Williamson missing most of the season.

The Kings are just 28th in the league in free throw attempts, so the Pelicans should be able to get a decided advantage at the line.

But the Pelicans can’t just get to the line, they need to make them. Currently the New Orleans Pelicans are 29th in the NBA in free throw percentage, while the Kings are 18th.

With Zion rumbling through the lane, the Pelicans should get plenty of attempts but they need to knock them down.

The Kings shot three more free throws than the Pelicans in their last meeting, but missed nine of them, which ended up being the difference in a close game.

Of course, that was before Zion came in and started bullying defenders and getting to the line. He and Holiday combined for 15 free throws against the Timberwolves in their last game and made 12 of them.

Alvin Gentry agrees about the importance of free throws and gives most of the credit to his ascending rookie, saying,

"“I think what he’s done, and we’ve struggled with this in the last few years, is we have a tough time getting in the bonus…With him on the floor, that’s happened a lot more frequently than it has in the past. He creates foul situations. Those fouls where we’re taking it out of bounds with four, five minutes to go have become bonus free throws.”"

If the New Orleans Pelicans can get the Kings into early foul trouble they can rack up the free throw attempts, but they need to knock them down.