New Orleans Pelicans vs Wizards: New Orleans Needs to Get Right Fast

The New Orleans Pelicans need to blow the Wizards of the floor.

The New Orleans Pelicans suffered their most disappointing loss of the season to the Sacramento Kings, which may change how the game against the Wizards is played.

I’d wanted to write all about how head coach Alvin Gentry could use this game to experiment with his lineup combinations to find some new wrinkles. After the team’s performance yesterday, they won’t be afforded that luxury.

The Pelicans need to play their best lineup together for 30 minutes and run up the score against the team that has the worst record in the bubble. Washington may stink, but New Orleans hasn’t looked like a playoff contender in their four games so far. A 1-3 record for this team is unacceptable when the goal was making the playoffs.

Washington has been without their three best players for the entirety of the seeding schedule, Bradley Beal and Davis Bertans opted out before the restart and John Wall has been out all season after tearing his Achilles. Any team being without their three best players pretty much always results in a loss.

In the bubble, where most teams are playoff-caliber, a team without their three best players should be defeated. The Wizards have lost all four of their games so far by an average of ten points per game,  and the Pelicans hope to keep that trend going today.

Before the games even started the Wizards win total was just 1.5 according to DraftKings. For a team that was just outside the playoffs when this all kicked off, that total is staggeringly low. A team with Beal and Bertans would have been expected to win maybe one more game but the total wouldn’t shoot up, which is indicative of Washington’s lack of depth.

According to Oddsshark, the Pelicans are pretty heavy favorites at -6.5 points. That spread may not seem large but remember every team in the bubble is ostensibly capable of making the playoffs. Those 6.5 points are the largest spread of any game today.

Previous Matchups

Ain’t none. Both games between the teams were scheduled for April.

Key Matchups

Jrue Holiday and Lonzo Ball will go after the Wizards backcourt of Ish Smith and Issac Bonga like sharks smelling blood in the water. The Pelicans should be able to snuff out any dribble penetration at the point of attack and force the Wizards into their second and third options for shots.

To add to the Pelicans guard play advantage, none of the guards on the current Wizards roster is a defensive stalwart. Jrue and Lonzo need to attack these guards on every possession and wear them down.

One thing that would be nice to see is Brandon Ingram used at the “point” in the minutes where Jrue and Lonzo sit. This would allow the Pelicans to see what Ingram is capable of as a distributor and if it works, they can try point Ingram in one of the three games after this.

It would also be nice to see the New Orleans Pelicans play a complete game on the defensive end after getting absolutely destroyed by the Kings.

The big man rotation for New Orleans has been underwhelming at best and awful at worst during the bubble games and Thomas Bryant for the Wizards can take advantage of this weakness.

In the Wizards last game against Philadelphia, Bryant had 19 points on 8-17 shooting. Those numbers are decent but that was against Joel Embiid and Al Horford, both of whom are substantially better defenders than anyone the Pels will try against Bryant.

Another player on Washington who could have a good game is Rui Hachimura. The rookie from Gonzaga has had a pretty decent year considering all the ups and downs of the Wizards season. Hachimura is capable of scoring in bunches and Brandon Ingram isn’t the most stout of defenders.

I think New Orleans will win this game pretty convincingly but the defense needs to improve substantially to keep the light at the end of the tunnel from fading.