The New Orleans Pelicans have a lot to prove against the Charlotte Hornets
After back-to-back awful losses to the Pacers and Thunder, the New Orleans Pelicans will try to get back on track against LaMelo Ball and the Charlotte Hornets.
This will be the first meeting of Lonzo Ball and his younger brother, which will obviously dominate the storylines heading into this game.
But the New Orleans Pelicans have a lot more on the table than just the Ball Bowl. Their offense has been terrible, the bench is the worst in the NBA and they continue to collapse late in games.
That’s why this game against the Hornets is about far more than just the Balls. The Pels need to prove that they are a playoff contender and not the same team that flamed out last season.
Here are three things we need to see vs. the Charlotte Hornets.
New Orleans Pelicans vs. Charlotte Hornets
How will the Pelicans bounce back?
Every team loses and every team loses in frustrating ways, sometimes to bad teams.
But I don’t recall two more gut-wrenching losses than the back-to-back duds the Pelicans took in their last two games.
The Pacers loss was one of the worst I’ve ever seen, with the Pels blowing a six-point lead with 30 seconds left in the game.
The OKC loss wasn’t much better, with the Pels blowing another lead and playing disinterested defense in the second half.
It’s time to see what this team is made of. Yes, it is still early in the season but if the Pels continue to let bad losses affect the next game, then this thing is going to spiral quickly.
You have to have a short memory in professional sports, so the Pels need to forget about the last two games and go out and get a win against Charlotte.
New Orleans Pelicans: Things we need against the Charlotte Hornets
A new bench
The New Orleans Pelicans’ bench has been the worst in the NBA and it’s not really close, especially after they got absolutely smoked by the OKC Thunder bench, which isn’t even very good itself.
By my count, the Pelicans currently have one NBA rotation player on their bench, Josh Hart, who has played good defense and rebounded the ball but has shot terribly and has been part of the problem.
J.J. Redick has been awful, the worst stretch of his career. Nicolo Melli has been unplayable going back to last year. Jaxson Hayes is 20-years-old and plays like it and Nickeil Alexander-Walker is inconsistent and takes a ton of terrible shots.
It’s time to try something else.
If that means playing rookie Kira Lewis Jr. more, so be it. Sindarius Thornwell should get some run. I’m ready to see Wenyen Gabriel, Willy Hernangomez (why did they even sign this guy?), Naji Marshall or anyone else really.
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Continuing to give any bench player not named Josh Hart minutes right now is insane.
New Orleans Pelicans: Lonzo Ball needs to dominate his brother LaMelo
Lonzo Ball needs to handle his little brother
LaMelo Ball is currently the frontrunner for rookie of the year after getting off to an amazing start off the Charlotte bench.
He is matching or beating his older brother Lonzo in nearly every statistical category and doing it in seven fewer minutes per game.
While I am sure Lonzo is happy for baby bro, it has to somewhat bother him that his brother is already getting more attention than him.
Lonzo and LaMelo have probably been playing together since they could walk, and anyone with younger brothers knows that the big brother usually dominates the family games.
Lonzo Ball needs to come out and show everyone that it is a bit too soon to crown LaMelo the best of the Ball brothers and that we should not forget about him.
It will be fun to watch the two play together and I hope Lonzo can use his big brother mental advantage to get in LaMelo’s head and force him to have a bad game.
All eyes will be on the Ball brothers tonight but the truth is that Lonzo vs. LaMelo is the least of the Pelicans’ worries.
If the New Orleans Pelicans don’t turn things around, especially the bench, it is going to be a long season.