Moleskin Moments: Warriors v. Pelicans Game 3


Moleskin Moments

Pre-Game

@PelicansNBA were 34-10 when scoring 100+ points during the reg. season. (Haven’t scored 100 yet in the postseason.)

@PelicansNBA were 1-10 on the season when their opponent makes 10+ 3s.

In G2, @PelicansNBA were outscored 11-4 when @AntDavis23 was sitting (2:56). Got to be able to afford giving him a bigger break today.

“When you’re down two games, you feel like you need to win. If that doesn’t happen, it’s not a tragedy, but it’s getting close.” Monty

In G2, @TyrekeEvans layup w/ 4:43 left in the game was the last field goal for the @PelicansNBA. @warriors closed on a 9-1 run.

Closing quarters key. @PelicansNBA closed 1Q well in Game 2. But gave up the lead with a 17-5 run by the @warriors in the second quarter. Similar to Apr.7 when the Warriors went on a run at the end of both the first and second quarters.

“The last month and a half of our season allowed us to get used to the stresses and pressures of playing in these situations.” Monty

@QuincyPondexter shot 46.4% from beyond the arc after the All-Star Break. Shot 32.9% before the break. Biggest jump in the NBA.

1Q

Loved the space provided to Davis early on by isolating him on the baseline.

Warriors came out like a team with brooms in hand.

2Q

That cut by @Jrue_Holiday11 on the @pg30_Cole 3 is the kinda heady play the @PelicansNBA been missing.  #2quarterCole 31-25

2nd quarter Cole!

7:30 The bounce play with @ryananderson33 can really kill this @warriors defense if RyNo starts hitting his shot. Switching nightmare.  42-30

5:25 @ryananderson33 has 11 points in this game. 7 in the prior 2.

 

Halftime

@PelicansNBA holding the @warriors to 18 points in the paint on 16 shots is huge. #keytothegame

Trombone Shorty and Irma Thomas as musical acts are good signs. Game 3 of the first round has better acts than the Super Bowl.  #nola

Interesting to see how Asik is handled here. Was huge in game 2 and regular season win. Not so much otherwise.

3Q

Nice to see an active Pondexter. Everyone needs to be an active agent to beat this defense consistently.

67-56 AD Second offensive foul. That’s got to be a fine on Barnes. SKC letting them know it too.

8:52 That last offensive sequence is why people get frustrated with Asik. Easy roll would have been a dunk. Can’t blame them either.

7:15 Every time Bogut is on @AntDavis23 he should attack.

 

6: 36 Davis winning that loose ball is why players will always play hard for him. Follow the lead of your captain.

5:58 Heady play by Gordon to attack Curry there. This team is much more active and engaged today. #experience 73-58

5:21 Giving Omer some love. Good boards and anchoring the defense.

5:21 Also Evans in space. Repeat!

79-64Was about to yell about that Ryno shot and no one cutting to him, but it went in. Do want to see @AntDavis23 attack Speights though.

1:38 Speights starting to get the Tiago Splitter treatment a la 2013 NBA Finals (whose turn is it to block him or burn him?)

@warriors 1/4 from the paint for two points in the third quarter. #keystothegame #breakingthebroominhalf

4Q

93-73 @ryananderson33 New postseason career high for points w/ 17 (prev. 14). @PelicansNBA 19-7 during the regular season when he scores 15+

7:25 Jrue out at exactly 15 minutes played. Could be due to the score, could be his minute restriction.

6:25 “Time for AD” I says, and AD stands up.

RyNo 23 points 101-83? @PelicansNBA will be investigated for tampering if @ryananderson33 keeps shooting like this. He may actually be LaMarcus Aldridge.

4:40 – Can’t get careless here. Need to stay disciplined on defense, keep moving the ball on offense.

3:33 103-95- Green just dunked a Curry miss in. “Why must we do this @PelicansNBA?”

3:12 Great putback by @AntDavis23 but too many Isos right now.

:45 Q-Pon, Holiday, Dante, Davis, Evans, our ending 5.

 

:21 Davis sticking to Green on those fake hand offs and was extremely crucial and smart. Forced tough shots.

:17 Holiday with clutch free throws.

What Just happened? (you know what happened.)

Have to wonder about not fouling there.

Also never inbounding the ball without a timeout, so not having one to be able to advance up the court.

How many offensive rebounds did they grab in the last five minutes?

Of course that’s a lot of hindsight.

OT

More offensive rebounds for GSW (first possession.)

Need to attack the paint more.  Like Evans did there drawing the foul.  (first point of the OT).

117-111 Need a score and a stop right here. Can’t keep bleeding.

Curious why Asik is in now .Seems a little late.

:36 Someone’s scrimmage is over. (Green foul out.)

:24 Hate that the @PelicansNBA don’t go to @AntDavis23 after Green fouled out. Want your best player to decide your fate.

:14 Would love those 10 seconds back.

:9 Curious foul there, but the @PelicansNBA will take it.

:00 This was such a happier write-up 30 minutes ago.


33 responses to “Moleskin Moments: Warriors v. Pelicans Game 3”

  1. I feel as if I had received a stab in my heart. We need a coach that doesn’t make us go through that ever again. When Monty Williams will be fired?

  2. I feel like Les Miles on a bad day was coaching the team in the 4th quarter, but that would be an insult to Coach Miles.

  3. Sorry, but the players need to make free throws, go after rebounds, and move without the ball on offense.  I doubt Monty told them to do otherwise.     My only gripe is with Monty putting in Gordon for Cole at the end of the game.     I can’t stand Tyreke’s slow pace at the end of games, but I’d sure rather him with the ball than Gordon if Jrue can’t play.    Much more good than bad in the coaching tonight, IMO.
    The refs need to stop rewarding obvious flops and call fouls when our guys get mugged (hit in the face, for example).   Half our turnovers were charge calls.   Add the quick technical on Q-pon, the bogus “basket interference” by Davis, the lack of 3-second calls on Bogut, the 3 steps taken by Speights before he assisted Curry on the last 3 in regulation, etc., etc.    We contributed to our own downfall, but the refs chipped in a good 15 points to the Warriors tonight.
    Props to Ryno for a masterful game.

  4. NOEngineer Agreed.  The refs were really sucking off GS tonight, doing everything they could to let them back in that game.

  5. nolahog NOEngineer This is a big enough collapse that there is enough blame to go around. Monty had some funky lineups in the fourth quarter that definitely came back to bite him, and the team didn’t execute well at all, whether it was on offense or fouling when up by three. And while it’s fair to give Monty some of the blame for blowing the lead, he has to get some of the credit for gameplanning in such a way that the Pelicans built a 20 point lead. 

    New Orleans had the win, had the Warriors beaten down, which is why this loss will sting so much. The Pels had the best team in the league on the ropes, and it wasn’t even close. This is a game that hopefully the Pels can learn from immediately, and show it on Saturday. Either way, it is a growing pain that no one wants to go through, but everyone knows has to happen. 

    The best players miss free throws. I remember Ray Allen once missing three free throws in a row for the Boston Celtics during Game 4 in the Eastern Conference’s First round.  Was the 4Q, and if he made it, the Celts could have swept the series. Kawhi Leonard too, missing a key free throw in 2013 that set up the Ray Allen dagger in Game 6 of the 2013 Finals. Free throws need to be made, no doubt, but misses happen, and the Pelicans blew this game way before then. That is why they need to go back into the film room, learn from this, take it to heart, beat themselves up a little, and then work on improving for Saturday on things that they have more control on (defensive rotations, offensive spacing/movement.)

    I usually stray away from refs bashing. If both sides are unhappy (which they are) that usually means the refs are doing a great or horrific job. I’ve known Scott Foster’s name for awhile, so you may deduct what you’d like from that.

  6. lottoni81 This is a tough loss, no doubt. Personally, I don’t has as much an issue with Monty as some seem to do. If I had to guess, I’d say he isn’t getting a  Randy Wittman extension, but he is going to be coaching the team next year (his last year under contract.) Either way, one loss can’t be the basis of getting rid of the coach. I remember watching this game: http://www.nba.com/games/20080521/SASLAL/recap.html

  7. ChristopherRomaguera nolahog NOEngineer This game was very similar to Game 1, except our biggest lead was 20 instead of 25.   It wasn’t 25 because the refs liberally used their favorite equalizers, the offensive foul and the uncalled defensive foul, which don’t show up in the “ref stats” as obviously.  The same thing happened in Game 3 of the SAS series with CP3 way back.     Keep the game “watchable” by benefitting the more experienced team, and “oops”, a stunning comeback occurs.   So, whether we are the home underdog or the road favorite doesn’t matter. I doubt the league will fine the player that flopped on AD voiding a likely dunk and leading to a technical foul at the other end.  However, even if they do it won’t give us back our 25-point lead we needed to win this game.
    Just because the other team is mad that they only got away with half their usual tricks doesn’t impress me as an argument supporting fairness.  When they get called for a decent portion of their moving screens, grabs, 3-second violations, etc. then maybe their efficiency drops somewhat on each side of the ball.

  8. Same issue that cost them games all season.  They try to play differently on offense when they have a lead in the 4th quarter.  Evans dribbles for the first 12 seconds while the other guys slowly move through an intricate series of picks and cuts that the defense has seen before.  Everything is designed to lead up to an “action” – a shooter coming off a pick and trying to catch, turn and shoot a three (very tough compared to catch and shoot), Evans handling on a pick and roll that could have started 8 seconds earlier, or – every once in a blue moon – AD getting the ball at the high post or on wing for an iso.  So the defense only has one “action” to thwart — and they know its going to happen between 12 and 8 seconds left on the shot clock so they are more than ready. Even if they get the ball to the right player, the player only has time to take the shot “created” by the action. If the action does not create the desired opening, its just 4 guys standing around and Evans alone with the ball and 5 seconds on the clock.  There is not time to try something else.  Bad shot goes up, floor poorly spaced, allows other team to run back at them.  The perfect offense to choke up a lead.  (This happens not just with Evans — See Cole at end of Q1 or Q2 last night.)
    I am not in the huddle.  I don’t know what Monty is saying, but I know he is calling the same type of play coming off time outs (last night’s contested 3 by Gordon when they still had a chance in OT).  I like a good scripted play coming out of time outs late in the game, but if your team is generally not good at executing and you have a bunch of skilled offensive players that can move the ball around and get all sorts of good shots when they have the freedom, are all those scripted plays really helping?
    Whether Monty is telling the guys to slow it down and milk the clock or whether they are just getting too tentative on their own, Monty should recognize the pattern by now and do something to fix it.  If he’s already told them to just play like its 0-0 in the first quarter, “just keep playing, stay aggressive, keep going to the basket” etc., and the players aren’t doing it, then he needs to try something else.  Tell Evans to get into the pick and roll play faster and if he doesn’t sit him down.  Tell the team to run the 3 guard spread where they are forced to move and pass a few times. Do something to counteract the bad tendencies of the team.
    But really, I am trying to be generous, because I think Monty wants the 12 seconds of standing and dribbling…

  9. Too much focus, I believe, on O in 4th qrtr collapse, when we gave up 16 second-chance pts. As Chris said below said, “Monty had some funky lineups in the fourth quarter that definitely came back to bite him” — maybe the main one being playing super small @ 2:23, with Jrue, Gordon, Reke, QPon & AD, before subbing in Cunningham for Gordon @ 0:45. GSW had 10 O rebs in the 4th qrtr, including 6 in the last 2:14 – 3 by Green, 2 by Livingston & the dagger by Speights. We also gave up 4 O rebs before that (2 by Barnes, 1 by Livingston & 1 by Green). Asik did not see the court in the 4th, one assumes because Kerr did not play Bogut; while Ryno played 10+ mins, all at C, Ryno gave Pels everything he is capable of last night (an incredible 26 pts on 14 shots), but his value in even such a good scoring game has to be weighed against his always porous defense and routinely weak D rebounding (2 total for the game last night, the last one coming at the 1:14 mark of 1st qrtr).  Monty prides himself on being a D coach but last night let the game play out without re-inserting Asik at the 5-min mark in the 4th qrtr, a player whose ond skill is D and D rebounding esp (in a game where a single D reb in the 4th qrtr was likely to guarantee a W). Clearly there has to be an answer to our 4th qrtr collapse: It’s not enough to say that if Monty is at fault then he need to be praised for getting us the lead — the goal is not to get lead but to win games.

  10. 6thMan I agree with you on some of the lineups and the lack of defensive rebounding.  But the lack of defensive rebounds and the stagnant offense are related.  The stagnant offense left the floor poorly balanced.  Guys standing around the wing and baseline on O are slow to get back on D.  A few of those long rebounds were bad bounces for the Pels, but there were a few more they lost because guys were late getting back on D. Then there were a few times that some of the Pels just looked like they expected someone else to get the defensive rebounds.  Cant do that late in the game with a lead.  All five guys need to hit the defensive boards.

  11. ChristopherRomaguera jeffchung Charles Barkley summed it up pretty well last night “Anderson had 6 straight points and never got the ball again,”
    Anderson was hot and deserved to be out there, but if he’s not being an offensive threat, he usually gets killed on the glass, which is what ended up happening.

  12. LateNite504FC Well…I don’t think that Monty wants the 12 seconds. When you look at how the offense is running at the Pelicans’ best, it is moving around crisply. I think this issue goes back to Evans being a playmaker, but not a point guard. (To be honest, even Cole didn’t play much point guard in Miami on Offense.) Assuming the team gets brought back next year, and nominal health, I’d expect Holiday and Cole to run a cleaner offense and something closer to what Monty wants to run. I believe Holiday was on a minutes restriction based on him coming out after playing 15 minutes (though I could be wrong.) 

    If I had to guess, Evans dribbling around is more the team freelancing than anything else. Can question his rotations in the fourth (though his experimenting was working up until then as well), but his After TimeOut (ATOs) at one point led the league in points. Not Brad Stevens, not Pop, not coach of the year Bud. Monty. He runs a clean offense. Based on how the end of the game went, I’m assuming there was some ugly execution of everything. 

    In the end, you can’t bench Evans this late in the season. Makes no sense, dance with the girl you brought. He also had a good game. It’s as much an issue with people not knowing how to cut off the ball. And Monty used all his timeouts, so it’s not like he didn’t try to reach his team.

  13. I’ve never felt so angry and let down after leaving a live
    sporting event.  On the brighter side,
    between Scott Brooks’ firing and the epic collapse last night, I think firing
    Monty is back on the table as a plausible offseason outcome. 
    I thought he should have been fired after that road trip
    where we lost to Philly, Boston, and New York, and even though we got to the
    playoffs, he should be fired now.  The
    CEO of an underperforming company cannot cite the fact that he/she isn’t
    actively telling his employees to be inefficient and lose money as proof of his
    competence; similarly, the fact that Monty isn’t actively telling the players
    to take bad shots, make poor post entry passes, and not rebound is not proof
    that he’s competent.  The question that
    we need to ask when judging a leader’s tenure is, did he/she inspire their
    organization and promote a culture of excellence and accountability.  For me, the Monty eye test says
    “NO”. 
    The Pelicans are soft and that fact is directly attributable
    to Monty Williams.  He is a passive man
    and that passivity is reflected in our play. 
    Steph Curry is a great shooter, but he’s not a physical player.  He’s being allowed to skip through the lane
    without ever taking a hard foul.  Monty
    played in the 90s.  Back then, if a
    player of Steph Curry’s height and weight was doing that much damage on the
    perimeter, he would have been put on his ass the first time he visited the
    paint.  If you’re not as technically
    sound as your opponents, you have to equalize that with physicality.  The Pelicans don’t do that.  There were a couple of opportunities to
    commit hard fouls on breakaways last night, but we didn’t take them.  It is no coincidence that the 4th quarter
    rebounding battle looked like men against boys. 
    The Pelicans are playing a boys game, the Warriors were playing a men’s
    game.  Teams do not fear playing the
    Pelicans.  They don’t have any dog in
    them.  The fact that we don’t have any
    dog in us translates to the defensive side of the ball because great defense
    requires physicality and intensity.  Our
    defense has been in the bottom third of the league the last 3 years despite
    having one of the league’s premier shot blockers on our team.  Monty is allegedly a defensive guru, but our
    defense is awful; something is wrong with your team if your coach’s bread and
    butter is stale and rancid. 
    The team’s general lack of aggression translates to the
    offensive end because we don’t attack the basket enough down the stretch.  Attacking the basket and getting to the line
    is how you put games away.  Our team’s
    passivity also translates to a lack of a killer instinct.  Teams who genuinely aspire to be great have a
    killer instinct and want to put their opponents away.  The only true hammerings we’ve dealt out
    during the past couple of years have been to awful teams like the Wolves and
    the Sixers.  When we get a double digit
    lead on a good team, the Pelicans’ body language says, “Let’s try to not
    screw this up”, instead of “Let’s drop the hammer on these
    guys”. 
    In terms of X’s and O’s the obvious thing you look at in the
    fourth quarter last night is Williams’ failure to put Asik in the game when we
    were getting killed on the boards during the last six minutes of
    regulation.  Why not get the one guy on
    your team who can reliably establish good rebounding position in the game when
    you’re getting slaughtered on the offensive glass?  Maybe the Warriors would have resorted to
    hack Asik tactics, but we were still 3 fouls away from the bonus at that point,
    so that would have gotten us closer to shooting free throws.  Even if Asik would have had to go to the line
    a few times, at that point you live with one point per possession just to keep
    the scoreboard ticking over, and the Warriors points per possession would have
    gone down because they wouldn’t have been getting 2 and 3 extra shots. 
    If the point of this exercise is to win a championship, or
    at least win a couple of playoff series, then fire him this offseason.  We definitely made strides this year, but if
    we’re being honest with ourselves, the primary reason we got to the playoffs
    this year is OKC’s injuries.  We are not
    better than the seven other playoff teams and a healthy OKC, so barring a
    change in the conference playoff format, that leaves us out in the cold.  Utah had a great last 2 months and will be
    much improved next season, Sacramento will be more competitive with a full year
    under Karl.  The time to make a coaching
    move is now.

  14. 6thMan Yea, personally I’d have loved to have seen Asik reenter. Thought he was playing a hell of a game, setting the tone in the paint. Doubt 10 offensive rebounds are given up if he is playing. Monty seemed to opt to have an ultra-switchy lineup in the game in order to try to contest Curry and Thompson 3s. Unfortunately those switches (something the Pelicans aren’t fully used to) left the players out of position and allowed the Warriors to crash the boards. Ethan Strauss had a stat that Curry missed 5 field goals in the 4th quarter, four leading to offensive rebounds that resulted in 9 points. Brutal. 

    Monty did what I think most wanted him to do in throwing the kitchen sink at the Warriors. A lot of it worked. But the team also put their foot off the gas in the fourth, and never got that momentum back. And that last lineup was questionable at best.
    Monty made some serious mistakes. No doubt. And maybe my arguing that he deserves some praise for the 20 points was a bit reactionary, but I believe this loss is also part of the process of a team that is young and will need to go through some growing pains. No superstar just waltzes straight into the finals. No superstar team does that. Teams blow big leads (I linked an article to the SAS blowing a 20 point leads in the third quarter against the Lakers in Game 1 of the WCF in ’08, and the Lakers finished with 89 points, not 123.) 
    I think what gets lost in all this is how quickly this happened. The Pelicans were up 101-84 with 6 minutes left in the game. They were face one of two, maybe three teams that could put up 24 points in that instance. And the best team in the league got hot, while the Pelicans stagnated. And it still came down to a free throw and a miracle shot. This loss hurts, It hurts a lot. But in a series that few were expecting the Pelicans to win, a game like this, that will be a learning lesson for the team, is a good thing.

    Should the Coach of the Year voting be redone in order to honor Monty? No. Should New Orleans cancel Jazz Fest and take to making a mob with pitchforks till Randy Ayers has to coach Game 4? I’d say no. Was as good a three quarters of basketball that the team could have played, followed by as brutal a 4th quarter as the team could have had. A young team, a young coach. This was going to happen. It just so happened to be very painfully.

  15. jeffchung ChristopherRomaguera Can I agree with you and not Barkley? 

    This is something that has plagued the team all year. Whether it is Davis, RyNo, Q-Pon, or someone else being hot, and the team not going back to them. 

    It goes back to my comments, that Evans is a playmaker, not a point guard. He has to be commended for filling in, but he definitely shouldn’t be a permanent fix at the position.

  16. Singular A lot to go through here, I’m going to go through a little bit of it. 

    First things first, count me as surprised if Monty gets fired. Was this a bad loss, yes. But this team saw an 11-win improvement (which is why the Pelicans made the playoffs.) Only 5 other teams had that much of a win improvement this year, four of which were in the East, with COTY, and a four-time MVP accounting for two of them.

    The Pelicans as an 8-seed are challenging a team that was the best throughout the regular season. This Pelicans team does not make the playoffs with a replacement level coach. There is a reason why not a single player throws him under the bus after the toughest loss of many of their careers, there is a reason why this team survived AD, Holiday, Gordon injuries. This team plays hard for Monty. 

    Are there growing pains that the team is going through right now? Yes. Will it be great when the team starts winning series? Yes. But this is one of the youngest teams in the NBA. The youngest team besides the Boston Celtics in the playoffs. The Pelicans will get there. They are improving, which is the kind of coach the Pelicans need right now, which is what Monty is. The players listen, they learn, they improve. From Q-Pon to Cole, to AD, to RyNo. How many coaches would have lost Anderson after those first two games?

    There will be a time when the Pelicans will be in playoffs and Monty’s rotations and lineups will be up at the forefront. Right now, the team is playing well and getting better for him. And I see him playing out his final year of the contract, and feel he has earned that.

  17. ChristopherRomaguera 6thMan Chris, you are once again the man — really hard to disagree with, other than to make the larger point that Monty has never seemed to realize the extraordinary risks entailed in playing Ryno for extended mins at the 5 — how the good (pts) is almost always matched by the bad (D & boards). I repeat this because of all the talk here and elsewhere about what the Pels could be like next yr, if healthy, etc. — all that optimism while I cringe at the thought of another season watching Ryno play big mins (30 last night) at the 5. I have never favored benching Ryno, just limiting his mins to 15+ mins of an O spark-plug (& mostly at the 4), not his standard 25+ mins (now mostly at the 5). Alas, this is an adjustment that for lots of reasons I don’t think “defensive-minded” Monty is capable of making. (One last note: Another stretch 4, Spencer Hawes, with an RPM similar to Ryno’s, has logged just 2:32 with the Clippers in 2 games against the Spurs.)

  18. ChristopherRomaguera I can’t do it anymore this year.  As far as I’m concerned, this series ended when Curry made that 3-pointer.  I haven’t been this deflated over a game since the Saints’ playoff loss to the Niners in 2012.  Wrenching defeat from the jaws of victory like pulling the sword rom out of the stone  When someone spectacularly contrives to miss an open goal in soccer, the phrase “it would have been easier to score” is often uttered.  Similarly, last night it was easier to win.
    Really would like to see Holiday take the next step.  His addiction to long 2 pointers is baffling.  This gets back to my point about culture.  There are some organizations that have directives against taking long twos (Houston, Golden State).  The only Pelicans who should be taking long twos with any consistency are Davis and Cunningham.  Also related to culture – what is the Pelicans’ identity?  5 years of Monty and I can’t identify a set of behaviors that defines our team or a standard that we aspire to.  If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll never get there; even if you did, you wouldn’t know it.

  19. Singular ChristopherRomaguera This was deflating yes. I am also partial to that phrase, and it may be applicable here, the Pels did more to lose than they had to to win. 
    Holiday I have a hard time criticizing due to the fact that I’m pretty sure he’s going at 60% and is playing like someone not trying to mess with a team that’s in rhythm. 

    The identity thing is an issue. I’d argue he’s gone through some tough changes (losing Paul, changing roster/rotation every year, crippling injuries.) I think you can see the outline on offensve 4-out, and I’m curious what he wants to do with the defense since Mike Malone has left. 

    But he has developed players, the players have listened to him, and play hard for him. I think he has done well enough to get another year, to see what the team follows a playoff berth with. To see if he can make the next jump. If he can’t then the questions come.

  20. ChristopherRomaguera Singular Fair enough.  Not much more to say.  This is just a devastating defeat and there’s no way around it.  Very first-world problem though.  There are much more challenging losses we all have to deal with in life.

  21. @singular of course we’re talking strictly in the sphere of basketball. Horrific loss one that will end our season but hopefully not define it (AD’s first playoff berth, team growth, etc.).

  22. ChristopherRomaguera Still though, there should be a such thing as a Sports Therapist.  Not like a physical therapist, but someone who helps guide fans through difficult seasons and the aftermath of crushing defeats.

  23. Singular I think we all found our therapist, right here ChristopherRomaguera — Props to Chris R – he’s been super patient and understanding with us all!

  24. ChristopherRomaguera LateNite504FC I was going to say that in an earlier post some time ago on a graphic for another team, we could see that the Pels were indeed the number one ranked team on plays coming out of a time out.  That involves coaching and players executing the call.  I’ve watched our guys screwing up defensive switches, even last night in horror, when they left Thompson open on a pick and roll and luckily he didn’t bury it or decided for some reason to hesitate and drive.  I think we have many guys that fail the Wonderlic for some reason, but not spending as much time on the court together (can you compare GS and NO on this in reply) certainly makes a difference.  I seem to recall the GS starting group enjoying plenty of time together…my bet is 10x as much as the Pels at least?

  25. Singular I bemoan this loss as much as anyone, but let us not lose focus on the fact that we fought great odds to even make the playoffs, and I do believe that we are watching them learn SIGNIFICANT lessons before our eyes in just these three playoff games.  I’ve seen improvement each game…to come out after GS’s 3pt opening barrage and win the quarter was something we would NOT have seen in the past. They have often followed up a bad loss with a win, especially on back-to-backs, and when missing key personnel.
    I think Monty is learning just as the players are…he is obviously dedicated at being the best he can be and his learning curve too is being accelerated with the exposure he is getting outside of Pelicans basketball. Bounce back performances are expected when you are professionals, but how many times have we seen guys lie down on a coach.  I grind my teeth when I think of Chris Paul’s 2 and 4 pt performances in the year before he left us and then puts up 36? in the opening game against the Lakers.  These guys fight until the end and I can’t ask for more than that at this point.
    I think AD is just way too tired in the 4th…not used to playing that many minutes age or not…I wanted Monty to sit him at the 5:33? mark in the 3rd when we had a nice lead and when Anderson was rolling, so he could rest through the quarter and break in between and then play the 4th.  Likely did not since Curry was not sat either until after the 3rd.
    I like our team and coach…if we can stay on the court together as much as GS’s guys have this year, I think the sky is the next few years.

  26. One more game of Monty trolling the sidelines. This guy will not even get a job in the Southland conference in college. Monty should have been fired back in December and we are now paying for that bad decision. Better get a real coach in there before we lose Davis because he will bolt if not.

  27. Do better if you are going to post nearly identical comments on mulitple articles. This is mere complaining.
    All signs point to Davis signing the extension this summer, plus he is under contract for another year and is a restricted free agent following in all likelihood.

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