In a disappointing defeat on Christmas Day, the New Orleans Pelicans fell 111-98 to the Miami Heat and several concerns stemming from the off-season were reinforced.
First, the good.
Steven Adams (six points, nine rebounds, two steals, one block) proved once again to be a reliable pillar at both ends of the court and, despite his youth, Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson can be counted on the vast majority of nights to lead the Pelicans’ offensive attack.
B’Easy scored 28 points and hit four points out of three, often looking like Kevin Durant on the floor. He went to the free-throw line 11 times, getting 10 free gifts and made several difficult jumpers in outstretched hands, including this one.
Williamson posted his second double-double of the season and the fourth of his career, accumulating 32 points and 14 rebounds. Thanks to Miami’s firm defense – made even more difficult by New Orleans’s inability to shoot and keep the runways open, Zion’s production wasn’t always pretty, but he used to be effective, at least in attack.
Josh Hart was the only other Pelican player to score double digits (12 points), as JJ Redick (1-7 FGs), Eric Bledsoe (2-10 FGs) and Lonzo Ball (2-8 FGs) struggled immensely to find the range of the field.
Defensive problems at New Orleans, the team’s most striking weakness, began shortly after Duncan Robinson. He received many open eyes, taking advantage of the Heat’s first ball possession.
Bledsoe cannot offer so much help here, even if he asks for an exchange. Adams should never be asked to chase one of the deadliest three-point snipers around the perimeter.
Robinson finished with 23 points and seven trios, but four of those triples came in the first quarter, allowing Miami to keep pace with an excellent offensive start from New Orleans.
The Pelicans’ defense, however, was quite exposed in the second half. The Heat scored 37 points and, had it not been for 7-2 to close the first half, New Orleans would have lost about 20 points in the interval.
“We had a lot of problems with our defense in the second quarter, when we weren’t stuck with what we were supposed to do,” Van Gundy told the post-game media. “I think our boys were confused about what was going on. This is something we need to work on and drill through. “
There was no one more consistently confused on the floor than Williamson, Jaxson Hayes or Nicolo Melli. Thankfully, Jax and Nico are the big two in the rotation behind Zion and Adams, huh?
You hope that Redick won’t be beaten in back cuts like this, but it does happen. Hart did the proper rotation after Hayes lost his – Jax shouldn’t have felt the need to be that close to Bam Adebayo, but Williamson compounded the problem by not recognizing the action. Once Josh went to help Avery Bradley, it would be up to Zion to stand between Andre Iguodala and Robinson (and hopefully head towards Duncan).
After those three easy points for Miami, Hayes immediately deflected the ball for Pelicans’ next possession – no jump passes, please! – which led to some Dragic free throws in the transition. Then, Jaxson was inexplicably beaten on the ground by Adebayo in Miami’s next offensive possession.
Both Bledsoe and Hart should have done a better job of running back in the transition defense, but Hayes saw his own mission run past him on the ground in search of an easy bucket. Not surprisingly, Van Gundy immediately replaced Hayes with Melli.
Things were not smoother, however, as evidenced by the most porous of defenses against a simple pick-and-roll.
That Bam dunk crowned an 11-0 run to Miami, giving them a 40-28 lead, and forced New Orleans to fight up the scoreboard the rest of the way … against the Eastern Conference Champions … in your place .
The problematic defense when Adams was resting on the bench continued in the third quarter. Hayes did not appear in the second half, but the combination of Melli and Zion proved to be unable once again to protect the rim.
Zion found himself in no-man’s-land, without stopping the ball / being able to affect a potential pass or stick to his original mission, and Melli didn’t help, choosing to stay closer to Damian Lillard’s clone, Meyers Leonard.
However, nothing overcame the problems of the night like the game outside the limits of Miami about thirty seconds later.
Nicolo Melli was defeated in a single cut by Precious Achiuwa to the edge in a dead ball. This can not happen. Ever.
In the post-game, Van Gundy regretted the Pelicans’ 19 twists and turns, as well as his weak transition defense by yielding 19 points, but also his decision not to give the bank any more minutes in an attempt to save the legs of its main contributors.
“Josh played well and JJ played very well on Wednesday. We had a really good production from these two guys and I didn’t even give anyone a chance, so that’s on me. I have to start using these guys more, giving these minutes for them to have a chance to produce and we are not so tired at the end of the game ”.
In my opinion, Stan Van Gundy gave the reserves an opportunity, but because they fell so hard on their faces so quickly, he was forced to rely much more on the matches. Even with Jimmy Butler sitting after the break due to the stiffness in his right ankle.
It is not the fault of the head coach if his priority is to win games. Especially after a very short pre-season. The front office, however, is not without fault.
For more Pelicans speak, subscribe to The Bird Calls podcast feed at iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts. You can follow this author on Twitter at @OlehKosel.