On the night before the season opener at Memphis, the Pels have released their official opening night roster. Seventeen players, including three guys on 2-way contracts (officially G-League players who can play a maximum 50 games with the big club). I expect one of the 2-ways - just acquired swingman and 3-point specialist Matt Ryan - to start on the active roster with Trey Murphy still mending. Not sure what Jose Alvarado's availability is (he did not log a single minute in preseason) but if he's not ready, 2-way player Dereon Sebron probably goes to Memphis as well. Last year's second round pick E.J. Liddell is on the full-time roster, as is this year's number one (Jordan Hawkins) and veteran reserve center Cody Zeller, the only other significant veteran addition. In addressing the team's relative inactivity in free agency and the off-season trade market, reserve big man Larry Nance, Jr. said, "“Everyone wants to focus on Dame to Milwaukee, Beal to Phoenix and the other big deals that happened, but that’s not our battle. Our battle is us. We’re our own biggest enemy in terms of staying healthy..." Couldn't agree more. I love this roster when everyone's healthy. If only everyone would be (Murphy and Alvarado hurt before the opening tip is evened tossed up is not a good omen), and we all know by everyone, we're really talking about Zion and BI. We'll see...
OK, so apparently getting rid of the guy who turned out to be a clusterfuck at team injury management hasn't changed much in the way they do things. Here's what I've learned about Alvarado. He sprained his ankle at some point during the off season. Had him on schedule to return, but it hurt one morning...so they sent him to see a doctor in North Carolina, because as we all know, there's no one in Louisiana qualified to diagnose and treat a sprained ankle! But wait! - good news!! - He'll be re-evaluated in two weeks. I now feel the way I felt about this team last spring.
Pelicans 111, Grizzlies 104 After a rough quarter and a half or so, newly-signed Matt Ryan came in the game and quickly knocked down 3 3's and it was all over. Pels took the lead and never let the Grizz get closer than 5 in the second half. Zion had a slow start - there are about a half dozen wide bodied rim protectors in the league who give him nightmares, and Jaren Jackson, Jr is one of them - but he got going in the 4Q and ended up with 23. CJ had 24, didn't force shots and looks like his injured thumb is healed. BI with 19. Biggest negative was turnovers; didn't see final stats but must have been close to 20. Overall a good opening win on the road against one of the best home teams in the league. And did it with a short bench. Knicks in the SKC Saturday.
Pelicans 96, Knicks 87 Sloppy game for both teams, and the Pels take advantage of an ice-cold start by NY, whose only lead of the night was 2-0. Pels made just 43% of their FTs and were 27% from 3, that stat impacted by the second unit jacking up about 6 in the last 2 minutes and missing them all. BI 26, Zion 24. Golden State comes in Monday night.
Warriors 130, Pelicans 102 So much for 82-0! 2-point game at the half and in the second half, the third oldest team in the NBA just took our kids to school. I was only able to watch the last 13 minutes of the game (thank you Ballysports.com) and the thing I heard Antonio Daniels say over and over again was out-hustled, out-worked. Out-rebounded too, 64-39, gave up 21 offensive boards. Unacceptable. BI sat out with a "sore knee" (how do you have a sore knee two games into the season? The cries of "soft" have already begun.), and with Trey, Jose and Naji still out (earliest I think we can expect any of them back is around Thanksgiving) the roster was pretty depleted. Jordan Hawkins got his first start and scored 14, not bad. But team 25% from behind the arc and 61% shooting at the FT line won't cut it against most teams, and certainly not the Warriors. At OKC Wednesday night.
Pelicans 110, Thunder 106 One of the craziest games in recent history. First quarter and a half was an extension of the Warriors debacle. Pels scored 14 points in the first quarter, were down by as much as 22 while at one point missing 19 straight three's. And then someone flipped the switch...rallied late in the second to get the lead to single digits at half, took the lead midway through the third, stretched the lead to 12 early in the fourth and held off a late OKC rally for the win. C.J. McCollum was 'da man with 29 points, 11 rebounds. ESPN announcers were calling out Zion for pouting early in the game, but he nearly had a triple double with 20p, 10r and 8a. Jonas had 19 and was really tough at both ends of the floor during the second half run, and I really don't understand why he was on the bench when OKC was rallying. And free throws are still an issue, shot 58% as a team. Ingram was a DNP again, but speculation is they didn't want him playing both nights of a back-to-back and will play tonight vs Detroit in the SKC. Also, the team had to stay in OKC last night due to mechanical problems with the plane. The team said the plane will be re-evaluated in 2 weeks.
Did not get to watch the Pels' loss to Atl Saturday night, and maybe just as, couldn't take much more sports pissing me off after LSU/Bama. At Denver tonight, will be tough and just got tougher. Team reports CJ McCollum has a collapsed lung and is out indefinitely. Now I'll have to force myself to watch the Saturday lowlights to see if I can tell what happened.
Nuggets 134, Pelicans 116 Very disappointing because for the first 20 minutes, the Pels looked like world beaters. Shot lights out, especially Hawkins and Ryan, BI running the point with CJ out and looked good doing it, and Nuggets were ice cold. But late in the second, Denver started to Denver. They were 2 of 15 behind the arc for those first 20 minutes, 13 of 24 the rest of the night and when that started, the whole floor opened up for them. Then one of those 3rd quarter disasters occurred (19 point swing), got sloppy on offense and lazy on defense. So frustrating to watch these guys give up so many offensive rebounds. Wasted an awesome effort from Hawkins, who scored 31 in just his 7th game. BI had 22 and Zion 20, but its telling of how the Pels stars are regarded to note that all of Zion's points came in the paint, I'd guess 14 of BI's were in the paint, most if not all of Hawkins points were from 15 feet out, yet Hawkins shot more free throws than Zion and BI combined. The refs just will not give those two anything. Regarding CJ, a report reminds us that he had a similar injury late in his time with Portland, and he missed 18 games. They're saying this injury is not nearly as bad as that one, but no injury can be taken lightly where the Pelicans are concerned. At Minnesota tomorrow night.
Pelicans 131, Mavericks 110 Pels break a 4-game losing streak and post (by far) their best effort of the year. Four solid quarters of unselfish, uptempo offense and tenacious defense, sparked by the return of Herb Jones. He and Dyson Daniels combined to hold Luca Doncic to a very ordinary 16 points and forcing a quite extraordinary 8 TOs by the great one. Dallas is one of the best ball possession teams in the league, and the Pels turned them over 20 times. Ingram (also 9 rebounds and 7 assists) and Hawkins with 25 apiece, 19 apiece from Jones (also 5 steals and 2 blocks) and Zion. TV guys implied Jose Alvarado could be back before the end of the current home stand, meaning within a week. Back to back coming, Denver Friday, Minnesota Saturday.
Pelicans 115, Nuggets 110 Pels never trailed the defending champs, but it got close. The first half was a continuation of the Mavericks rout, leading by as many as 20. But everyone except Naji Marshall (3 critical 3's in the 4Q) went ice cold in the second half. Nuggets got the lead down to one, but BI and Zion each hit two big baskets in the closing minutes to ice the win. Poor FT shooting let it get closer than it had to; Pels were 11 of 21 at the line. Zion-26, Jonas-22, BI-22, but the energy has really kicked up since Herb came back. Minnesota tonight, wouldn't surprise me if they sit Zion for rest.
