New Orleans Pelicans: Things to Watch against the Sacramento Kings

New Orleans Pelicans vs. Sacramento Kings: Bench Guards will be key.

So far the Pelicans have gotten torched by backup guard Jordan Clarkson and backup shooting guard Grayson Allen. They even let Reggie Jackson have a big game, but pretty much everyone had a big game for the Clippers.

The point is that the Pelicans’ backup guards, specifically J.J. Redick, Josh Hart and Frank Jackson need to defend better when they are on the floor.

Hart has been great so far and has often been tasked with guarding much bigger players, but Redick got destroyed in the “white guy from Duke that everyone hated” battle against Allen.

The Kings will run Buddy Hield out in the second unit and he is better than any of the backups they’ve faced so far.

Gentry should try and stagger Jrue Holiday and Lonzo Ball so that one of them is always on the floor, which he didn’t do against Memphis.

But Holiday and Ball will be busy trying to slow down De’Aaron Fox, so the bench guys will need to check Hield and not let him get the kind of wide open looks Allen was getting for Memphis.

Luckily for the Pelicans, Allen was the only one hitting three’s, as they ended the game just 12-43 from behind the arc.

The Pels probably won’t get as lucky against the Kings, who won’t be on the tail end of a back-to-back like Memphis was.

Stopping Hield and Kent Bazemore will need to be a priority as they had 21 and 16 points, respectively, against the Mavericks.