I’ll be honest- I started writing this recap after the first 2 possessions because I thought a win was in the bag. And when the Pelicans went up 13 points in the 3rd quarter, I smugly grinned to myself. But then the Charlotte Hornets came storming back and my world shattered.
Gerald Henderson brought Charlotte within striking distance in the 3rd with a few easy looks and then Kemba Walker took over from there, scoring 17 points in the 2nd half of the game.
The game was there for the taking when the Pelicans went up 13 in the 3rd quarter, and they allowed the Hornets to come back by playing lax defense. A couple sharper possessions when we had the lead and we’re talking about a 15-16 point win, not a discouraging comeback. This is the NBA- you can’t relax, ever. 14 turnovers is too many. Jason Maxiell of the Hornets also burned us for a couple of key offensive rebounds late in the game.
Other Notes/Observations
- Jimmer once again came in the game before Austin Rivers. Looks like a trend. Rivers did not play. To be honest, Jimmer’s defense at the end hurt us. I don’t think some miscues were “mistakes”- he just isn’t a very good defender and Charlotte, as I’ll talk about below, frequently has their guards running off of screens full speed.
- The Pelicans got into the bonus with about 7 minutes left in the 2nd quarter, which was strange, as Charlotte had the second best defensive foul rate in the NBA entering the night. It was also strange that they resorted to a bunch of jumpers right after they got into the bonus.
- AD showed the turnaround J on a couple of possessions tonight, and OH MY GOD IT WAS BEAUTIFUL. It wasn’t quite as beautiful when Cody Zeller read him and Davis awkwardly leaned in and got his shot blocked, but AD recovered and scored off the rebound
- Jrue had a dump off to Asik in the 2nd quarter where Asik was literally wide open at the basket. Asik airballed it. I love Asik, but this is not an isolated incident and he needs to be more productive on offense. Cannot play 4 on 5.
- Tyreke went for what appeared to be a 2 for 1 at the end of the 2nd quarter and wound up throwing the ball into the crowd. But it’s nice to see the idea, though I’d argue that you’d want more than 4 seconds to make a 2 for 1 worth it.
- The Bobcats offense may be bad, but I actually enjoyed watching all the movement involved in their system. Curls, tight dribble handoffs to allow their guards/swings to get a step on their defenders and get momentum going to the rim. Fun to watch when you don’t have anything invested in them putting up points.
- Anthony Davis works so hard running the floor, crashing the rim, etc.. but defenses just give him so much damn attention. Teams gift other Pelicans layups to prevent him from getting transition lobs. Players double his rim-runs on the P/R. Seriously, next time Davis is the screen-setter, watch how little room is there for him to crash to the rim- there’s almost always a person in between him and the rim.
- Ryan Anderson does not have the athleticism nor the physical profile to be a great help defender, but his awareness needs to pick up in a major way. Once or twice a game an opposing player will get a wide open layup because Anderson isn’t keeping an eye on the ball and rotating over. Davis has these lapses in concentration as well.
- Eric Gordon had a couple of beautiful feeds to Davis: a pocket pass for a dunk in the 3rd and a whipped pass to a rolling Davis at the end of the game for an And 1. He also made an open 3 pointer the possession after the Davis And 1. His shot was off for most of the night but did make a few big shots/plays near the end of the game.
The Pelicans play the Grizzlies and then are rewarded with a very soft stretch of games. They should have won tonight and hopefully they clean up their mistakes so they can run off a timely winning streak.
23 responses to “Pelicans Fall to Charlotte: Observations”
I hope I eat my words but I just don’t see us going on a win steak. We are too inconsistent. I just have a feeling I don’t know why. Maybe it’s the patterns of how we are playing, or perhaps deep down I feel wev aren’t a good team, which conflicts with the way we have won key games against some tough opponents. Whatever it is I’m not feeling it.
IMO…this team has three obvious needs…..backup PG, starting SF. Also, Monty’s rotations and unwillingness to call timeout when other teams are making a run…
I just don’t understand how our defense can be so bad. Usually the answer is “we’re a young team, it takes a while for young players to learn defense” and then you look at a team like the Milwaukee Bucks, who only have 4 players that are 27 or older, a new coach with a new system, yet they currently have the 4th best defensive rating in the league.
And other very young teams like the Magic, Suns, 76ERS (?!?!), and Pistons all have better defensive ratings than we do. So frustrating.
Sorry, but that last play by Kemba would be a charge every time if Evans did it. He drove his skull into Holiday’s stomach, not just his shoulder, then got the reach call. What a joke.
Davis had 30 points and shot only 2 free throws. Another bad joke.
How about somebody set some screens on the final inbounds play? How about someone other than our shortest player throwing ball in?
Gordon did his patented selfish “fast break” for no points at least twice, plus allowed Henderson to score 3 or 4 straight baskets during the big late-3Q meltdown. He should have been pulled after the 2nd one. That should have been during a timeout of course.
Anderson has been a liability for this team 2/3 of the games this year. His lack of consistency is almost intolerable. If we can trade him I’d be supportive, since he has returned to full health and I would have felt bad ditching the guy after his freak injury. I think he might be enough of a sweetener to get someone to take Gordon along with, and hopefully return a quality high-efficiency wing player with less peaks and valleys.
Whither Withey? I don’t see Henderson driving past him for 4 straight layups….
That Asik miss was embarrassing, and created a 5-point swing as it ignited the fast break for a 3-point play on the other end.
NOEngineer Your last sentence stole my thunder…we went from going up by 12 to being up by 7…all the missed free throws…and the Asik airball from 2ft was simply impossible for someone who has a basketball in his hands EVERY DAY…no way we should have lost tonight, and I do agree that Walker’s last drive was played perfectly by Jrue… I suppose he should have flopped like everyone else does, especially now on Tyreke!
I’m sorry. I hate to say this but I do blame Monty. He can’t make choices for the players in the game, but he is the head of the snake and it shows the team is not performing. Defense is not improving and offense is very inconsistent. One game, our star gets 3 shots in a half. Other games, you feed him in all the wrong places. We as fans are, at best, amateur coaches but see flaws in his coaching. What does he teach during practice? Good player developing coach does not mean good head coach.
And George Karl said he would’ve loved to coach the Pelicans a while back
This loss isn’t all on Monty, I’m sorry. Players have to be held accountable.
if monty did not get the team above .500 this January with our soft schedule coming…i don’t want to see him in February coaching this team
Clef504 I’d love to see a quote with something close to that. I found something interesting, but it’s not a quote from Karl.
I heard him say it. He was on nba tv during one of our games.
NOEngineer “Anderson has been a liability for this team 2/3 of the games this year.” He’s always terrible on D (no foot speed) and a terrible defensive rebounder – had 3 tonight in almost 30 minutes; Jimmer had 2 in 10. Team is 10-3 this yr when Ryno makes 3 or more 3s; 4-6 when he makes 2, and 3-9 when (like tonight) he makes 0 (or 1). It’s unfair to compare him to Josh Smith, other than to make the point just how much a team can improve by SUBTRACTION. My sense is team would be better giving Ryno’s minutes to Cunningham and Withey.
ByronMarcusWashington You simply must forgive me here, but I need more than that. I am not discounting what you are saying. i’ve looked for the comments on the basis of such claims. If it’s been repeated a few times, it should be out there. If it was an off-the-cuff comment that didn’t really have weight, maybe he just said it once and never repeated it. I don’t know.
What I do know is that I want to see a quote of something in the ballpark.
Additionally, and this is not a swipe, but the human mind is imperfect. We remember things inexactly often, or assign intent or emotion when inappropriate. This is why I need the quote.
Jason Calmes ByronMarcusWashington
http://www.noladefender.com/content/george-karl-pelicans-should-be-playing-better
i hope this help sir jason
mojart Jason Calmes ByronMarcusWashington I applaud and appreciate the effort, but no. At no point does Karl saying anything remotely related to his desire to coach this team or any one of it’s players.
The team I like a lot and it bothers me, is New Orleans. That Davis kid is coming and their three guys out front, Holiday and Gordon and Evans, can get to the rim, and they can score. Gordon can be a great shooter. And then they’ve got the Ryan Anderson kid who’s the best shooting four in basketball.
[…] I think they should be playing better. But I’m still on record that I like ‘em a lot. I like them because Anthony Davis is a basketball player. He’s not a big man. He’s a basketball player that’s seven feet tall. And I just think the game is about basketball players, not necessarily position players.
Jason Calmes mojart ByronMarcusWashington
yup i know..BUT maybe if the pels offer him the coaching job right now i think he will accept with no hesitations….:-)
mojart Jason Calmes ByronMarcusWashington You said think when you mean hope. To think it, you need some kind of reason that includes an understanding of his will to do so.
Hence, we are both looking for the same quote.
Right?
Evans didn’t have a good second half scoring. He had two free throws in the 4th quarter and that’s it, right? The second-to-last Pels possession (I think), Evans had the ball while AD sat at the top of the key, he dribbled around for a bit, gave the ball to Gordon, who almost turned it over. Gordon gave it back to Evans, Evans shot and missed.
The entire time I was just thinking “wait… what?” Tyreke was having a bad half offensively. Gordon is Gordon. Davis had 30 points and a pretty good matchup the entire game. The game was tied. He is your best player. Please give him the ball. (They did on the next possession and he scored. wow! surprise!)
I think the team can make the playoffs. Monty is doing what he can with an average player on a bad contract who won’t be happy in any role coming off the bench. Is Gordon the entire problem? No. But he doesn’t help much. The team played some really good basketball during and before his absence, and when the offense is clicking, not many teams can keep up. The team and individual defense usually isn’t that bad. There are just often lapses for individuals and then other teams have just been making ridiculous shots lately (basically the entire Wizards game this happened)
So I will say that’s the same article I read and I admit, I misinterpreted it in my reading of the article. I will say though, my point still stands that Monty needs to go cause he is not taking this team to the top. Players need to be held accountable but the coach make the overall difference. Look at the Steve Kerrs and SVGs. These guys stepped in and you see immediate impacts.
How long before this town demands a new coach? Really, this is depressing, you can analyze him up and down and every which way the only thing that matters is wins which this coach does not get very many of. Never has, never will. There has to be a change. This guy has gotten a bigger pass than any coach in the history of professional sports in America. It’s one thing if you have a track record of being a proven winner and you are given time to build a team, but this guy has NEVER WON ANYTHING! Mr. Benson you owe to your season ticket holders to make a change NOW. Spark some excitement, give someone else a chance to win with this team. Mr. Williams cannot do it. Please give someone else a chance.
There will be no “timely winning streak.” Does a building have to fall upon Pelicans fans’ heads to realize this team, as presently constructed, is a perfect case of “mismatched abilities.” This is not saying that these players are selfish; it is just that their strengths are pointed in such certain ways that there is little or no teamwork that can be expected from their basic mindsets. Not even Pop could straighten out this motley crew.
I have always been a supporter of coach continuity…i think thats a very important part for success, but that is when a coach shows improvement year after year…we can see a small improvement in the W colum year after year (hard not to do so after a post paul season and a post every injured season). I would love Monty to succeed here, but its getting harder and harder to believe it will happen. And looking at the poll, it looks like im not the only one thinking this way (130/144 votes gives him C, D or F…)
bigezking
You’re talking about Sean Payton before the Super Bowl season, right?
xman20002000
That’s not my point.