New Orleans Pelicans: Grades for a tough loss to the Bucks
New Orleans Pelicans vs. Bucks: Player Grades for the small forwards
. Small Forward. New Orleans Pelicans. BRANDON INGRAM. C-
This was a rare stinker for Brandon Ingram, as the small forward couldn’t find the range all night.
He ended with 23 points on 25 shots and made just one of his ten 3-pointers.
Ingram faded as the game went one, which has been a problem all season, as he is an All-NBA talent in the first quarter but tends to get worse as the game progresses.
Guys have off shooting nights, even Ingram but he also committed a charge late in the game that pretty much sealed it for the Bucks.
Meanwhile, his counterpart Khris Middleton had a 31-point night in a battle of two guys who were snubbed for the All-Star game.
This is really the only flaw in Ingram’s game, as he is still not an even average defender, which stands out more on nights when he doesn’t shoot the ball well.
He wasn’t making plays for teammates either, as he ended with only two assists after having eight the night before against Detroit.
The New Orleans Pelicans played awful team defense as usual, so there is no way this loss can be put on one guy, but the Pels aren’t going to win many games when Ingram goes 1-of-10 from 3-point range.
It’s also tough to win a game with an 8-man rotation where all of your starters are playing huge minutes yet expected to have fresh legs down the stretch.