New Orleans Pelicans: What happens to Brandon Ingram after the 1st quarter?

If you only watched the first quarter, you’d think the New Orleans Pelicans were title contenders and Brandon Ingram was a frontrunner for MVP.

The Pelicans are one of the best first quarter teams in the NBA, averaging 30.9 points per quarter which is good for 4th overall in the NBA.

They are only giving up 27 points per 1st quarter (6th in the NBA), so the Pels are often getting out to big leads early in the game.

Part of this is because Brandon Ingram is a different guy in the first quarter. He is averaging 7.8 points per quarter in the 1st which is 7th in the NBA overall.

After the first? The numbers plummet.

Ingram gets just 5.3 points in the 2nd quarter (36th), 5.8 in the 3rd (35th) and 5.3 in the 4th quarter (34th) which is a significant dip.

Brandon Ingram goes from an elite scorer in the first to a middle of the pack guy the rest of the game.

So how do the New Orleans Pelicans fix this?

New Orleans Pelicans: Brandon Ingram is wearing down

Part of this happens because the Pelicans are much worse as a team after the first quarter. They seem to come out with energy every night but as soon as they go to their awful bench, that energy and life are often sucked out of them.

The Pels often get big leads just to cough them up in the second, so the starters are always under pressure to be perfect if they want to win the game. They have to build leads, watch the bench give them away, then fight the rest of the game to get them back.

This takes its toll, which is one of the reasons Ingram’s numbers dip.

This also points to problems with Stan Van Gundy’s rotations, as Ingram is often left sitting on the bench way too long, which takes away any momentum he built in the first quarter.

By the time he comes back into the game in the 2nd quarter, the Pels are usually losing and its been eight minutes since he took a shot. SVG needs to find ways to sit Ingram for shorter amounts of time so that he doesn’t lose rhythm.

The Pelicans also go to Brandon Ingram way too much in isolation when their offense slows down in the half court, which leads to him having to work way too hard for shots, another reason he may be tailing off as the game goes on.

Some of this is on SVG, but Ingram needs to be more aggressive when he comes back into games. He often looks like a different guy for some reason and doesn’t give the effort that he did in the first.

He’s probably discouraged by watching his bench blow leads (can’t blame him there) but he can’t let this affect his game, as the Pels need him to be effective down the stretch and not just at the beginning.

The New Orleans Pelicans are an enigma, especially after the first quarter, when they go from title contender to lottery team.