15th December - New Orleans Pelicans VS Orlando Magic - 6-20
Here we go again, this time VS the 11-14 Orlando Magic. We're at home again, not that that seems to have made much difference as of late. Here's the injury report:
https://www.nba.com/pelicans/news/on...-orlando-magic
Only two players appeared on the New Orleans Pelicans Injury Report on Saturday ahead of Sunday's home game vs. the Orlando Magic. Zion Williamson (knee) and Darius Miller (Achilles) remain listed as out while the rest of the roster is available for Coach Alvin Gentry.
So Favors should be good to go still, as he was last game. No idea on if he'll be available for more than 15 minutes this time around, though.
The Magic have lost 3 straight, so in a way, I suppose someone's loss streak has to be broken. Feels strange to compare 3 losses in a row to what we've had, but that's where it is. In terms of injuries, they're missing Aminu (meniscus tear) and Vucevic is day-to-day, so he may play but maybe not.
Orlando are 25th in offensive rating, so worse than us, but 12th in defensive rating, which is far better than us. They are, however, 29th in pace: we should be able to run them around a little, since they're so slow. They're 18th in rebounds, 23rd in assists, 11th in steals, and 2nd in blocks. They don't turn the ball over (4th best turnover rate in the NBA) and they are the 2nd least foul-prone team in the NBA, so our free throw woes don't look to be turned around tonight.
The reason their offense is so dreadful is simple: guys don't score. They're 28th in FG%, and 27th in 3pt%, and while they're better at making FTs (12th) they are only 22nd in FTAs.
Players to be aware of tonight include Jonathan Isaac, a third year player who is 22 years old and legitimately in the running for DPOY. He's been incredible on that end. Tall, lengthy, he's averaging 2.7 blocks per game and 1.2 steals: that translates, on his team, to an 8% BLK rate and a 1.9% steal rate. The list of other players averaging at least these percentages over at least 500 minutes played this year is: nobody. He's the only one. This explains why Isaac is also 10th in the NBA in D-PIPM, and 16th in DRPM. Just great stuff from him.
Try for a win, at least?
https://www.nba.com/pelicans/news/on...-orlando-magic
Quote:
Only two players appeared on the New Orleans Pelicans Injury Report on Saturday ahead of Sunday's home game vs. the Orlando Magic. Zion Williamson (knee) and Darius Miller (Achilles) remain listed as out while the rest of the roster is available for Coach Alvin Gentry.
The Magic have lost 3 straight, so in a way, I suppose someone's loss streak has to be broken. Feels strange to compare 3 losses in a row to what we've had, but that's where it is. In terms of injuries, they're missing Aminu (meniscus tear) and Vucevic is day-to-day, so he may play but maybe not.
Orlando are 25th in offensive rating, so worse than us, but 12th in defensive rating, which is far better than us. They are, however, 29th in pace: we should be able to run them around a little, since they're so slow. They're 18th in rebounds, 23rd in assists, 11th in steals, and 2nd in blocks. They don't turn the ball over (4th best turnover rate in the NBA) and they are the 2nd least foul-prone team in the NBA, so our free throw woes don't look to be turned around tonight.
The reason their offense is so dreadful is simple: guys don't score. They're 28th in FG%, and 27th in 3pt%, and while they're better at making FTs (12th) they are only 22nd in FTAs.
Players to be aware of tonight include Jonathan Isaac, a third year player who is 22 years old and legitimately in the running for DPOY. He's been incredible on that end. Tall, lengthy, he's averaging 2.7 blocks per game and 1.2 steals: that translates, on his team, to an 8% BLK rate and a 1.9% steal rate. The list of other players averaging at least these percentages over at least 500 minutes played this year is: nobody. He's the only one. This explains why Isaac is also 10th in the NBA in D-PIPM, and 16th in DRPM. Just great stuff from him.
Try for a win, at least?