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New Orleans Pelicans Head Coach Tournament: Sean Miller vs. Tony Bennett
The Case for Sean Miller By: Michael McNamara All of the coaches in this tournament bring something great to the table, and it’s just a matter of figuring out which things you would like to add to the pieces already in place. In my opinion, two of the areas where I want to see improvement […]
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New Orleans Pelicans Season in Review: Ryan Anderson
Ryan Anderson’s 2013-14 season was unfortunately cut far too short as a result of an in-game collision in early January with the Celtics’ Gerald Wallace. Prior to that accident, though, Anderson was having the best shooting season of his career, hitting about 41% of his 3-point attempts to go along with a career low turnover rate of […]
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The New Orleans Pelicans’ 2015 Salary Cap Situation
With the New Orleans Pelicans’ 2014-15 season now officially at an end, it is time to start thinking about the summer and where the team stands within the rules of the salary cap. Our resident expert, Jason Calmes, will likely go into more detail later in the offseason, I thought it would be a good idea […]
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The Dawn is Coming
On March 31st, I booked a flight back to New Orleans landing at 7:20 PM on April 23rd to surprise my mother for her birthday on the 24th (today). At the time of my purchase, the Pelicans were 2 1/2 games back of the 42-32 Thunder at 39-34, so having the opportunity to also attend New Orleans’ […]
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Pelicans Battle Tremendously, but Fade Down the Stretch in 97-87 loss to Warriors
If you are not extremely proud of this Pelicans team after watching the game tonight, then stop reading now, because you must be on the wrong team’s website. For 44 out of 48 minutes, this 45 win, 8th seed New Orleans team battled the 67 win, league-best Warriors to practically a draw (88-86). For the last four minutes, a lack of experience, […]
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Game On: New Orleans Pelicans at Golden State Warriors, Game 2
Two days after an inspiring comeback fell just a little short in the form of a 106-99 loss, the Pelicans return to Oracle Arena for Game 2 of their best-of-seven series against the Warriors. After a rough first quarter on Saturday, New Orleans shook their playoff jitters and played Golden State close to even in the […]
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Game On: Pelicans at Timberwolves
So here we are. Two games remain in the 2014-15 NBA regular season, with the Pelicans and Thunder tied for the 8th and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Each team has one “damn well better win” game and one “win and you’re probably in” game remaining. New Orleans plays at Minnesota tonight, while […]
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Pelicans Scoop – The Final Playoff Push
Some of the Bourbon Street Shots writers discuss five key questions heading into the Pelicans’ final three games of the regular season, tied with the Thunder for the 8th and final playoff spot. 1) Other than Anthony Davis, who has been the biggest key to the Pelicans’ recent push to sneak into the playoffs? Mason […]
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The Pelicans’ Surprisingly Reasonable Path to a Top-10 Defense
As we all know, the Pelicans have again endured countless injuries which have again derailed the team’s quest for its first playoff berth since Chris Paul left town. Despite this recurring theme, New Orleans has maintained a top-10 offensive rating this season (hovering right around 105 points per 100 possessions), a remarkable feat when you consider who the […]
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Pelicans Prove Basketball Without AD Can Still Be Fun, Beat Raptors 100-97
Similar to their game in Toronto about six weeks ago, New Orleans entered the 4th quarter facing a seven point deficit to one of the best teams in the NBA. In both instances, the team was under-manned, playing without Jrue Holiday and Anthony Davis for both, also without Ryan Anderson tonight. Nonetheless, the Pelicans were able to […]
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Game On: Raptors at Pelicans
Tonight, the shorthanded Pelicans (28-27) welcome a strong and largely healthy Raptors (38-17) team to the Smoothie King Center. Toronto will be looking to bounce back in New Orleans from a blowout loss in Houston on Saturday night, and these Raptors undoubtedly smell blood going up against a weakened Pelicans roster. In particular, All-Star PG Kyle Lowry made just […]
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Pelicans Fill Backup PG Void with Trade for Norris Cole
The Pelicans entered the day with few expecting them to make any sort of move at the 2014-15 NBA trade deadline. Around 2 PM, Dealer Dell struck again, as he was able to turn John Salmons’ $2 million expiring contract into a serviceable backup point guard, nabbing Norris Cole from the Miami HEAT in a 3-team trade with […]
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Short-Handed Pelicans Drop Tough One to Jazz 100-96
The Pelicans went into halftime with a 52-42 lead over the Jazz. New Orleans scored a solid 10 first half points off of turnovers against a team giving up 18 points per game in that category, 5th worst in the NBA. The Pelicans made an impressive 9 out of 15 three-pointers against a Jazz team allowing opponents […]
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Game On: Jazz @ Pelicans
Eric Gordon: “No Davis, Holiday, or Anderson? Hold on y’all, I got this.” Tonight, an incredibly short-handed Pelicans team hosts the Utah Jazz. In addition to Jrue Holiday’s absence with his right leg injury, New Orleans will also be without Anthony Davis (right shoulder sprain) and likely without Ryan Anderson (right shoulder soreness… what is […]
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The Quest for the 8th Seed: Western Conference Playoff Tie-Breakers
ESPN’s playoff odds formula currently expects the Pelicans, Thunder, and Suns all to finish with 44-38 records. Obviously, these projections move from day to day as the games are played, but at some point, we have to start asking ourselves: what if something like this actually happens? What are the various tie-breaking scenarios at play? Wonder no […]
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Pelicans Halt Hawks’ Win Streak at 19 with Convincing 115-100 Victory
Motion to rename the Pelicans to the Streak Stoppers? Heading into tonight, New Orleans had halted the six game winning streaks of the Pistons and Clippers, along with the seven and sixteen game losing streaks of the Nuggets and Knicks. Tonight, the Pels had a shot to conquer the longest streak yet against a Hawks team that […]
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Game On: HaWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWks (soon to be regular Hawks) @ Pelicans
Tonight, the Pelicans welcome the Hawks team that DIDN’T lose the Superbowl last night to the Smoothie King Center. Atlanta is currently riding a 19-game winning streak, easily best in the league this season. The Hawks have not lost since December 26th, and since then rank 3rd in offensive rating, 3rd in defensive rating, and 2nd in Net Rating […]
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Eric Gordon Leads Short-Handed Pelicans to Impressive 108-103 Win over Clippers
The Los Angeles Clippers arrived in New Orleans riding a 6-game winning streak to go along with their 32-14 record. Heading into tonight’s game against the Pelicans, they had outscored their opponents by 7.5 points per 100 possessions this season, an average only surpassed by the 36-7 Warriors and 38-8 Hawks. Los Angeles would face a Pelicans team missing its […]
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Game On: Clippers at Pelicans
Tonight, the Pelicans (24-22) continue their homestand against the Clippers (32-14), owners of the longest active winning streak in the Western Conference (6). According to Hollinger’s power rankings formula on ESPN.com (which takes into account factors such as strength of schedule and number of home and road games), the Clippers are the third best team in the NBA, […]
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New Orleans Pelicans’ Mid-Season Report Card
With the New Orleans Pelicans’ season now officially halfway complete, it is a good time to take a look back and see how the team has fared relative to expectations. In this relatively high-level post, I start out by putting things in perspective with the team’s first half schedule, followed by player/coach grades accompanied by both quick notes to […]