New Orleans Pelicans: Brandon Ingram’s Revenge

New Orleans Pelicans get revenge on the Utah Jazz

What did we learn?

We learned from this game that the New Orleans Pelicans can play competitively with the top teams in the league from night-to-night. While the specter of Zion Williamson‘s return still loomed over this team, the fact that the Pelicans were able to pull off a win against what was the number two seed in the west showed they’re better than the team’s record indicates.

During the 9-3 stretch that New Orleans had put together before this game, three of the wins were against playoff teams (Denver, Indianapolis, and Houston) with two more coming against teams fighting with the Pels for the eighth seed (Portland and Sacramento). This stretch shows just how good they can be.

On top of that, we learned via Jen Hale during the postgame interview with Brandon Ingram that his mom set a goal for him to score 50 points in a game this season. Had he hit just one more free throw (he missed four in overtime) he would have reached that goal.

How did we feel about the team?

How do we feel about the Pels after this game? Two words, very good. The team bounced back from a tough loss to this opponent just 10 days before and won two games in a row that went into overtime (beat Detroit three nights before 117-110). If the Pelicans could keep up this pace for the remainder of the season there was no doubt that with the addition of Zion, they could make a charge at Memphis and take the eighth seed.

Notes from the game,

• Just one day before this game, Kyrie Irving told the media that the Nets needed more pieces to compete for a title.
• Joel Meyers told a story about Donovan Mitchell in the first quarter. Mitchell’s father is an executive with the New York Mets, and as a kid, the Jazz star played baseball and basketball. So when Meyers asked Mitchell why he wasn’t playing baseball professionally, he said he broke his wrist in high school and missed basketball more.
• There was a kid wearing a Doncic jersey in the stands, I’m not against wearing your favorite player’s jersey just not the horrendous Mavs city uniform.

• Oh no! A Jojo Siwa concert(?) was scheduled for June 2, 2020, and must have been canceled due to the COVID.
• A Wild N’ Out Live show was also canceled by the rona.
• Someone in the crowd had a Serbian flag, they must have been a fan of Bogdan Bogdanovic.
• Josh Hart is the king of reactions.
• One of the most athletic things that happened all game was when a fan in the front row, saw that Nickeil Alexander-Walker was going to have to dive into the seats to save a ball from going out of bounds. The fan read the situation quickly enough that he was out of his seat and down the row before NAW even touched the ball.