Big Win Tonight - Long Post - TLDR Summary Included

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Ended up being a blessing AD didn’t play. This team’s been dying for Elfrid to return and they went and took out Minny without Niko and Davis. Has to be a big boost for these guys to feel vindicated that Elfrid was indeed an important piece to their success. They’ll get another emotional boost next game adding AD to this lineup instead of the usual post win jitters. Injuries/illness permitting, should be able to roll into Cleveland and Brooklyn and come out with Ws and see what happens in Memphis. If this team could get rolling a little and add Niko to the equation, they could possibly pull off the very difficult 30ish wins needed to make it to the postseason.

Would be really nice if we could make a run and start battling for seeding late in the year. Glass half full, the West is so deep this year that there aren’t many teams running away already. Glass half empty, the Pelicans will need to navigate that same depth and injuries shot their chance of sitting close to the top of the conference early.

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Payton looked rusty as hell and had some moments where he didn’t look comfortable using his left hand. Very early on in the game though he drove right to the rim for an easy layup. Penetration we’ve been sorely lacking from anyone not named Jrue Holiday

Julius Randle is such a beast man. I’d understand if the Pels used his recent outburst to pry some depth and talent away in positions of need, but man would I miss this guy. He plays so damn hard every night. He had his hands full, especially when Okafor wasn’t on the floor and kept us from getting murdered on the glass, with similar midget lineups that AD’s freakish arse was tasked with anchoring. He seems to have one or two calls every game where you’re just going “what the frick?” I think it may be his height disadvantage making the optics look funky and causing extra contact getting to the ball, but he’s had quite a few clean blocks in the last couple weeks get whistled. He may have one of the strongest shooting wrists ive ever seen. The accuracy at which he’s able to finish shots on his funky fadeaways and through contact is just nuts. He’ll be on his way down 6 inches from the ground and the shot looks just as good or better than his usual 12-15 footers.

Jrue man. I just love his game when he doesn’t have to think. When people ask the question, “what is the line for too much?” In response to AD and Gentry saying that he does too much, the answer is simple. If you can let Jrue play basketball and not think about everything, you’ve got him in the right spot. Too much is when Jrue has to be the best defender every single night and also be the entire offense with high usage at PG. It’s not a knock on Jrue. It’s just a lot to ask, and it’s not his natural fit. Lastly, his bank shot is so old school, I love it. It reminds me a lot of Grant Hill in appearance as he doesn’t fade into it like Wade or Kobe would. I also love seeing him show off his hops in spurts the last 9 months or so. That reverse layup tonight was gorgeous.

Miller showed up biiig tonight. Man when him and Moore are cooking from downtown, this team is damn near impossible to beat at full strength. We’re going to dominate you inside regardless. If you add efficient threes from the wings, game over.

Okafor looked good out there again. He had one really tough call early that was total nonsense and picked up a quick second and third after Gentry didn’t pull him. I’d really like for us to keep him and use him as a 3rd/4th big off the bench relatively cheap. I wish we’d seen more of him in the second half, but Gentry had his pulse on things tonight.

Diallo battled hard on the boards, but man he doesn’t give you anything else against team so with veteran or legitimate bigs. Gibson is essentially what Diallo should be trying exactly to become. Not joking. He should watch that dudes film tape like a hawk.

Frazier...I’ve been banging this hard in the game thread when I’m not trolling the Rockets MSB Mafia, but when he is making plays and having an impact on this team, that’s when we’ve won recently. He didn’t fill up the box but he was playing alright and battling on D for a change while also crashing the boards amongst the trees. I remember at least two he cleaned up after Randle did his job boxing out. I love how he’s replacing Rondo as the “distraction from the bench shite talking tiny guy”. I’m waiting for him to throw up a towel. I’ve really got a soft spot for Tiny Tim. Easy dude to root for.

Hill was pretty much just there. Made a few plays and a really heads up hustle play late when he beat 3 Twolves down the floor to turn it into a 3/2 fast break with execution at the rim.

Saved the best for last because I’m always giving him such a hard time. Gentry did a hell of a job tonight I thought and had his finger on the pulse of the game. I was hoping for more Okafor late, but I guess he had confidence that Randle could anchor the interior enough and everyone else was engaged that they wouldn’t need his presence on the defensive glass.

I do want to point out one play late in the game that was just an amazing design since pretty much everyone on this board universally hates our out-of-timeout sets. He had Jrue and Randle set a high PNR on the middle right arc with Jrue going left. Randle dove to the rim as Jrue dribbled down the left lane. He positioned Milller sitting at the left arc instead of closer to the corner. This caused the defender to help down on Jrue’s drive because of how close he was to the play and that left Miller wide open. Bottom. Game from that point.

TLDR- Huge win with Elfrid back and team saying they were different team before his injury. Big boost doing it without AD and probably getting him back next game. Randle is a damn warrior. Instinct Jrue is so much better than Thinking Jrue. Go Pels!