The New Orleans Pelicans have dropped their second straight game after falling 115-108 to the Phoenix Suns in part one of this back-to-back two-game series against the Suns. This was a disappointing showing from the entire Pelicans roster, giving up 23 second-chance points, missing 17 free throws, and shooting 5/25 from beyond the arc.
With no Herb Jones in the lineup for the second straight game, Devin Booker was in attack mode all night, getting to the foul line 11 times and shooting 10/16 from the floor for 30 points.
The biggest issue in the loss was the Pelicans’ poor free-throw shooting. It’s rare for a professional team to miss 17 free throws in a single game, and those misses proved costly. If the Pelicans hypothetically made seven more of their 42 free-throw attempts, then they would have, on paper, forced overtime in this game. The game was right there, and all this group had to do was make a few more free throws on their home court.
Another questionable decision was the lack of fourth-quarter minutes given to rookie guard Jeremiah Fears. Despite starting the game and scoring nine points by the start of the final period, Fears sat the entire fourth quarter. Fears was benched for Jordan Poole, who shot 0/5 from three in the quarter and 7/18 overall in the contest. It's not just that I thought Fears would give the Pelicans a better chance to close out this game, but I also felt like it would be a good developmental opportunity for the rookie.
This loss also highlighted an obvious roster flaw that the Pelicans have avoided having exposed to this point in the season.
The Pelicans are lacking a 7 footer
Despite Zion Williamson getting to the rim effortlessly offensively, resulting in 20 points and 14 free throw attempts, the Pelicans' lack of size and rim protection sealed their fate in this game.
The Suns not only won the rebound battle by eight but also scored 60 points in the paint. A huge contributor to Phoenix's dominating effort in the post was first-year Sun Mark Williams. The fourth year big really helped the Suns shut the door, with 10 of his 24 points coming in the fourth. He also brought in 13 rebounds in the contest.
It isn't a knock on Derik Queen, who, for a rookie center, has been really solid at both protecting the basket and battling on the boards. But it's just that sometimes he's too undersized at 6'9" and 250 pounds to stop 7-footers. The Pelicans only have one player above 7 feet on the roster, and it's Hunter Dickinson, who's on a two-way deal and has logged zero minutes in the NBA to this point. The lack of size on this roster is just another flaw in this team's roster construction.
The Pelicans will look to bounce back Saturday night when they face the Suns again in the second game of this two-game split between New Orleans and Phoenix.