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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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Breaking Bad: the Quest to Win Games We’re Supposed To
I received a tweet today asking whether Pelicans fans would ever truly know how the team would perform in a given game. It’s an interesting question, because despite a couple of obvious winning correlates (shooting, home games), the Pelicans have sort of been all over the map this year. They can beat anyone and they […]
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Pels Follow Up Best Win of the Season with One of the Worst Losses of the Season
The Pelicans lost to the Bulls 107-72 in a horrible home loss, dropping the Pels to 8-11 against the East. Some thoughts on the game: Both teams had very slow starts to the game, the Pelicans didn’t even score until the 8:30 mark in the first. The Pelicans couldn’t hit any outside shot, which is […]
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Game On: Pels Host Bulls
The Pelicans (27-23), coming off probably their biggest win since being rebranded, host the Chicago Bulls (30-20) tonight in the second of a back-to-back, tipoff is for 6CT. Despite winning 7 of their last 10, New Orleans is still one game back from Phoenix in the race for the 8th seed, with OKC in hot […]
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Ep. 11: Bulls With Kevin Ferrigan
Jake and I are privileged to welcome Kevin Ferrigan of Blog-A-Bull and various other media outlets to talk about the matchup tonight. Article From Kevin Signing Pau Gasol Was a Mistake If you aren’t already, make sure you are following Kevin! Follow @NBAcouchside
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What a Game: Pelicans @ Thunder
Instant Classic tonight, folks. It had all the right ingredients for a game you’ll remember all year, and I’m seriously pumped. It had heroes. It had goats. It had amazing shots. It had multiple “WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!?” moments. I mean, holy shit, Tyreke Evans. He opened the game like a spastic monkey […]
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Game On: Pelicans @ Thunder
I’m feeling pretty good about our chances tonight. The Pelicans have a history this season of losing games that were stacked in their favor – and winning games where they were not. Somehow, I doubt that Anthony Davis, Eric Gordon and Tyreke Evans are going to combine to shoot 17-55 again. It’s also not that […]
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Lack of Free Throws From Guards Is Primary Reason for Offensive Inconsistency
I have been screaming it for weeks – on Twitter, on the podcast, and in the comments section as well, but it is time I put together a coherent piece with numbers that back up my hypothesis. For those who do not know what I am talking about, I have been on my soap box […]
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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 Can’t Take Advantage of a Golden Opportunity
The New Orleans Pelicans had the Thunder right where they wanted them. They entered the night up two games on OKC and needed one more win against them to clinch the tiebreaker, and oh yeah, Kevin Durant was out. But the Thunder still had that Russell Westbrook guy and he was absolutely fantastic tonight, going […]
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Game On: Thunder @ Pelicans
The red hot Pelicans take on the Oklahoma City Thunder tonight in the finale of a six game home stand which has given a boost of confidence to fans and players alike, and perhaps some breathing room to Monty Williams. A win tonight would leave your Pelicans just half a game back of the Phoenix Suns for […]
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Pelicans Passing to Wins
On January 19th, the New Orleans Pelicans were 20-21 after losing in disappointing fashion to the New York Knicks. Since that game, the Pelicans have won six of seven, easily their most productive stretch of the season, and are one game back of the Phoenix Suns for the 8th and final playoff spot. The Pelicans […]
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Quick Hits: The Pelicans Aren’t Better Without Jrue
The Pelicans are playing their best basketball of the season. They just beat the hottest team in the NBA, the Hawks, who entered the game on a 19 game winning streak. Tyreke Evans and Eric Gordon have been in perpetual attack mode and are setting up others incredibly well. Some of the fans/analysts searching for a reason […]
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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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In the NO Podcast Ep. 203: Pelicans turning corner?
After good wins over the Clippers and Hawks, it’s easy to squint your eyes, ignore the Denver loss and think playoffs once more. So guess what? Michael and I talk playoffs, Ryan Anderson not hedging, one of those nights in almost hated Denver, how many wins it will take for Davis to win MVP, and […]
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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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Alexis Ajinca Making a Case for More Minutes
When Omer Asik was added this summer and it became known that the Pelicans would not have to move Ryan Anderson to acquire him, people quickly began to debate whether the Pelicans had the best three-man big rotation in the league. The skill sets of those three allowed any two of them to play together, […]
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Ryan Anderson and Shooting Risk
Last night, Mac sent out 2 tweets explaining how the Pelicans offense goes as their jump shooting goes because they do not go to the line and they do not have post scorers. A lack of shooting has been a problem for the Pelicans all year. And while there are ways to run an effective […]
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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, […]