Here comes 2-0- Pelicans game day thread

[FNG]

I mentioned in Lip's game review thread that I am a supercilious man- whoops, did it again- I mean a superstitious man. And being superstitious, I'm going to keep teeing up the game day threads until we lose a game. (In a related topic, Lip, I'll pick you up at 6:30 tonight. Parking and beer is on me. I'll bring a bottle of wine for the lonely Mrs. Lipoli).

Last summer Glen Taylor called Adam Silver and told him he was worried about dwindling season ticket sales. "Can you help me out, Adam?" Silver said "How about this? I'll give you three home games to start the season- one against horrible Houston, and 2 against the Pelicans without Zion. And to make it easier, I'll make the Pelicans play a road game the night before they play you. Good?" Glen quickly agreed.

Guys, this is a layup for our Wolves tonight. Vegas has us - 6 1/2, and that's not nearly enough. Jump on this one just like you did against the Rockets. We win by double digits tonight, and the line goes up to 10 for the rematch Monday. I expect to see the same energy from our boys that we saw against Houston, and a tired Pelicans team is going to be overwhelmed. I think we will see turnovers and dunks- just like the opener- and a raucous crowd.

I want to see continued defensive energy, especially from Jaden, Josh, Vando and Beas, and improved shooting from DLo. I'm curious to see what PatBev can bring, and also curious to see how Finch allocates minutes to three point guards (especially after a wonderful debut by JMac in Game 1). We'll be up big late in the game, so I want to see a better 4th quarter performance from our subs- especially Nowell and Bolmaro.

Should be fun tonight, Lip...thanks for the invite!

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

I'm too jaded to assume this is an easy layup. I think as long as they can match the defensive energy and intensity of the last game and most of the pre-season, they should be fine. But old habits die hard, so I'm not taking it for granted!

[Monster]

I'm too jaded to assume this is an easy layup. I think as long as they can match the defensive energy and intensity of the last game and most of the pre-season, they should be fine. But old habits die hard, so I'm not taking it for granted!

Agreed Q. The Pelicans are missing Zion but Jonas V Ingram and Graham strike more fear than a bunch of young guys along with Thies and Eric Gordon for a Houston. I am expecting a win but like you said I'm not taking it for granted although it being at home and the Pelicans playing on a back to back likely helps.

[FNG]

Oh ye of little faith...why can't you be more optimistic like me? The wolves will win tonight and again on Monday night...and 32 more times before the season is over!

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Minnesota wins tonight by double digits, but I fully expect them to be up as much as 20 at some point in this one. This New Orleans team is significantly worse than last year's team and they don't even have their best player available tonight in Zion Williamson. I expect to see some Leandro Bolmaro minutes tonight in garbage time.

[60WinTim]

So some of you are calling this a trap game... ;-)

For what it is worth, your terrible Houston team beat Oklahoma by 30+ points last night. And who doesn't love seeing the Lakers start 0-2!

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Chicago beat this team by 16 last night. Losing this one would be inexcusable. Minnesota's more talented, healthier, and on two days of rest whereas their opponent is missing its best player and played last night. It's a scheduled win, but they still have to go out there and win. I'll add that the Wolves should come out looking to put this one away in the first half just like they did against Houston.

[FNG]

I had a slow day yesterday, so I read through the game day thread from last year's opening win against the Pistons. For those skeptics (and I fully admit I'm one) who think the optimism after Game 1 this year feels like deja vu, spend a couple minutes in the Pistons thread. Totally unlike this year's. Lots of angst and criticism of Juancho, Layman, Rubio, Josh and DLo (and oddly, lots of praise for Culver who put up a double double along with KAT). In contrast, there is almost universal acclaim for our Wolves in the Rockets thread (except for the usual disagreement about the value of DLo. I'm still a skeptic about this season and still feel relatively comfortable with my 35 wins prediction, but I also recognize a big difference in this year's opener compared to last year's. I fully expect to be 3-0 going into the Bucks game. After that is anyone's guess. I want to believe in this team, but...

[FNG]

Does anyone change the starting lineup tonight? I don't, because the Pelicans aren't that big. Let Jaden harass Ingram all night and put Okogie on whomever we fear most offensively, and we should be just fine on defense. Nice to have PatBev on the bench if needed defensively.

[Leado01]

All of the teams we play have NBA talent. It's awesome seeing losses from the Lakers and Nets ... but I'm guessing no team goes undefeated and every team wins 10 games.

We SHOULD beat the Pels...twice...but then again