We’re still looking for our first win. I honestly thought it was coming last game against the Mavericks, but Dirk and Deron stashed a Delorean in the locker room. So, here we are. 0-7. Can we just get a win? Is that so much to ask?

Mavericks Injury Report

The Mavericks don’t have anybody on the injury report. Those lucky dogs. Chandler Parsons is still on a 15 minute restriction, though.

Pelicans Injury Report

Quincy Pondexter, Tyreke Evans, Kendrick Perkins and Norris Cole are still out. Omer Asik is questionable according to the most recent reports. It’s the first night of a back-to-back. Gentry has said that Jrue will typically play the home game in these situations. I’d expect to see him play tonight.

What to Watch For

• Jimmer Fredette – He’s back! Maybe this time, he’ll be luck. Maybe this time, he’ll stay. Seriously, I doubt he even plays, but it’s always news when the Jimmer is back in town. It’s easy to make jokes, but really the hype surrounding Jimmer isn’t what it was even last year. I think most of us agree he is a marginal NBA player, and that’s fine. Still, Jimmer could be effective in Gentry’s system if he is able to hit shots. Again, I’m not sure he gets a chance tonight, but we will see.

• Dwight Powell – Another marginal player. Maybe the last game was an outlier, or maybe there is a reason that a semi-competent big man performs well against our depleted second unit.

• 3 Point Shooting – People are going to talk a lot about the Pelicans 3 point shooting. Overall, I’m fine with the volume. They could be more efficient, but I think some of that inefficiency is just variance and bad spacing due to the injuries. In the last game, the Pelicans shot 9-28, which isn’t great. If the Pelicans can shoot better this game, it will help a bit. They’ll still struggle with Gee and Smith on the floor, because no body will respect their shots until they hit a few. We have no evidence that suggests that will happen.

• Davis vs. Nowitzki – Historically, Davis and Cunningham have defended Dirk well. That has to continue tonight.

• Anthony Davis – Speaking of Anthony Davis, I thought he played much better the last couple of games. Obviously, the box score looked better, but I thought he also stopped forcing the issue and stepped back a bit on offense. If he continues to play like this, the Pels will eventually pick up a win…. right?

• Mavericks Guards – The Mavericks have a lot of guards that were deadly three years ago. Now, I don’t want to insult anyone, but Wes Matthews is coming off a serious injury. Deron Williams is not the player he was. Raymond Felton is still playing in the NBA. Devin Harris is also still in the NBA (Fun fact about Devin Harris. He hasn’t had a PER above 15 in 4 years.) Nevertheless, our guards have been struggling to defend the perimeter. Hopefully, they’ll do a bit better tonight.

This has been a shorter Game On than I usually write, but we just played this team and not much has changed. Also, I just need to see a win. It doesn’t have to be a major victory or blow out. Just… One… Single… Win… And that’s all I have to say about that.

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