New Orleans Pelicans vs. Utah Jazz Preview: The Battle Continues

New Orleans Pelicans vs. Utah Jazz Preview: Key Matchups of the Game

Key Matchups

The Jazz will be in a sticky situation without Bogdanovic for the remainder of the season and that deficiency will be on full display in this first game. While he’s not an All-Defense candidate, Bogdanovic is still an above-average defender with the size to match up with bigger wings.

The biggest question for Utah is how to deal with Zion, there’s no player on the roster with the combination of speed and size to knock him off his game (not many in the league either).

They could stick Gobert on Zion and let the two-time DPOY do his thing, but by doing that Derrick Favors would be guarded by some combination of Joe Ingles, Tony Bradley, Georges Niang, and Jeff Green.

Royce O’Neale will line up next to Ingram as O’Neale is the team’s best wing defender. Slowing Ingram will be a very difficult task regardless. Jeff Green could also be asked to defend Ingram in spurts when O’Neale is getting a breather. Ingram will stick with whoever guards him on defense as those players are more likely defense-first players who will spot-up off-ball offensively.

The guard matchup is fairly straight forward with Lonzo Ball and Donovan Mitchell going at each other on both ends. Jrue Holiday, while certainly capable of defending Mitchell, might be used to guard either Mike Conley or Joe Ingles and save some of his energy for the offensive end. No matter which way head coach Alvin Gentry decides to go, the New Orleans Pelicans can put a perimeter stopper on the Jazz point guard every possession.

The bigs for New Orleans on defense, Zion and Favors, will likely stick with their “position” on that end. Favors will pick up Gobert and Zion will handle whoever is playing the four spot at the time.

The ace in the hole for New Orleans will be whether Gentry decides to run with a small-ball lineup for stretches and play either Josh Hart or J.J. Redick as the small forward. Each option presents challenges for the Jazz as both are more off-ball players on offense and will constantly move and make the defense bend and shift to not allow an open three.

It’ll be interesting to see how much Gentry uses Nicolo Melli and Jaxson Hayes in this game, one of them will get most of the minutes at the center when Favors needs a break. Hayes plays in a similar style to Favors but Melli provides a level of floor spacing that no other big on the New Orleans Pelicans does.

Ingram and Mitchell will be the focal points, and it may come down to which has the bigger game. Either way, game four of this series is likely to be close and the New Orleans Pelicans and Utah Jazz may emerge with a budding rivalry.

We’re all looking forward to the resumption of real live NBA basketball and this first game will be a good test for New Orleans.