New Orleans Pelicans: 3 takeaways from pre-season game vs. Miami Heat

Takeaway #1: The New Orleans Pelicans are more disciplined

Although it’s only been one game, I can already tell that the Pelicans will be more disciplined in this upcoming season.

The effort was there on both offense and defense.

Early on there were a few miscues on offense, but that is to be expected. As the game went on it started to look a lot smoother.

The Pelicans finished the game with only 11 turnovers, and only five in the final three quarters of play.

Cutting turnovers is one of SVG’s priorities and it showed last night.

On defense, the Pelicans looked alert and were able to get a lot of deflections, made switches when needed, and most importantly boxed out on defense.

The Pelicans cut down easy transition baskets and minimized points in the paint, two more areas of focus for Stan Van Gundy.

Last year there were times when the Pelicans looked out of sorts and looked like they were giving no effort, especially on defense. Seeing the Pelicans play with this new style should bring a smile to Pels fans.