A night in The Big Easy: Wolves/Pels GDT

[60WinTim]

Glad I could bring it home!!

[60WinTim]

Man its nice to have a real point guard

We have to thank Cool, right?!?

[AussieWolf3]

Man, just can't say enough good things about JK in this one. Guy had Zion so flustered by the the of the game

[rapsuperstar31]

Good win in a trap game. Made it a little interesting to finish it, if Lyles takes the ball out on that rebound New Orleans probably would have just given up.

[Coolbreeze44]

Man its nice to have a real point guard

We have to thank Cool, right?!?

Tim, you are a truth teller. Don't forget the part about Aussie being a dumbass thinking we couldn't play without Ant. . Stick with me guys, I'll keep you informed before the rest of the world finds out.

[AussieWolf3]

Man its nice to have a real point guard

We have to thank Cool, right?!?

Tim, you are a truth teller. Don't forget the part about Aussie being a dumbass thinking we couldn't play without Ant. . Stick with me guys, I'll keep you informed before the rest of the world finds out.

Well hey now. I may be dumb, and can be an ass, but I'm surely not a dumbass.

I also don't think I said that

[AbeVigodaLive]

- That court. No. NO. NO!!!

- Wolves getting beat backdoor multiple times in the first 15 minutes. Ayo got beat twice. Fortunately, the Pelicans started fumbling a couple other chances away.

- After containing Williamson early, he got cooking for a spell there. Kuminga yelling at Gobert for not stepping up to defend Zion at the rim after Kuminga brought him there caught my attention. Hmmm...

- Herb Jones was not interested in playing this game. All three of those were silly fouls. Almost intentional fouls that would make even a 22-year-old Jaden McDaniels cringe. Guy might not be too happy about playing a career low minutes... even while subbing in as a starter for Murphy a few times. Played only 14 minutes tonight. Everything he did screamed that he's done as a Pelican.

- Which brings me to the Pelicans. I like their talent. I don't like their immaturity. It's not a serious team yet, and it showed. Whether it's Jones. Or, two delay of game technicals. Or, losing composure. Or, giving up defensively at the end.

- The Wolves free throw woes... really... it's about Gobert and Kuminga. They get to the line more than anyone else (85 FTAs) but only make 45% of them. The rub is that both are so damn good defensively.

- I'm still collecting my thoughts on Kuminga. But I dig his physicality so far...

- I'm not 100% sure because ESPN went with gimmicks over substance on its new Play-by-Play game tracker... but I think Gobert was taken out with nearly 9 minutes left in the 4th... Trey Lyles had a steal, block, a dunk, and was in the right place repeatedly. The guy is growing on me.

- 7 - 3. Keep em coming, boys. I'm starting to believe in this team more and more. This is fun.

[FNG]

Clearly the ugliest game of the season...seemed like it lasted forever. At times it felt like a loss to me, but we toughed it out. But man did we struggle offensively in the second half when Melo was out...truly an indication of why Finchy's Ant/Melo staggering system will continue when Ant returns.

The Pelicans are a weird team. Jones has always been one of my favorite players (regularly leads his team in on/off and is WAY ahead this season), but his behavior last night was shameful...the fans should have been booing him as he left the court. And the way the team completely gave up in the final minute was really odd and sad. A talented but troubled team.

JK continues to amaze me. How many players in the league can shut down Zion for an entire half? And nobody else could guard him when JK sat in the second half. And while I saw what a good 2-way player he could be last season with the Hawks, I never thought of him as an unselfish, high BBIQ player. But he is. Nobody on the roster other than Ball is as adept at making the extra pass at the right time. Another 4 assists last night.

No other team in the Association comes even close defensively to our three starting bigs.

I was a little concerned about our team toughness after trading Ju, but I have no concerns now. The Pelicans wanted a street fight last night, and we didn't back down. Bones is obviously a flawed basketball player and quite small, but he adds a degree of toughness that I like...he's always in the middle of things when they get heated. Clark and Rudy add toughness too.

Not a great game for Clark, but we're now 4-1 when he plays 15+ minutes. I'll continue to track this as long as is suits my narrative .

We're 7-3, just a game out of first, and have won 4 of our last 5 without Ant. And we're coming home for 8 games all of which we should be favored in. We obviously need Ant to contend and he was playing at a very high level pre-surgery, but as many thought, the ball movement with him out has been really fun to watch...so many wide open corner threes!

[AussieWolf3]

Clearly the ugliest game of the season...seemed like it lasted forever. At times it felt like a loss to me, but we toughed it out. But man did we struggle offensively in the second half when Melo was out...truly an indication of why Finchy's Ant/Melo staggering system will continue when Ant returns.

The Pelicans are a weird team. Jones has always been one of my favorite players (regularly leads his team in on/off and is WAY ahead this season), but his behavior last night was shameful...the fans should have been booing him as he left the court. And the way the team completely gave up in the final minute was really odd and sad. A talented but troubled team.

JK continues to amaze me. How many players in the league can shut down Zion for an entire half? And nobody else could guard him when JK sat in the second half. And while I saw what a good 2-way player he could be last season with the Hawks, I never thought of him as an unselfish, high BBIQ player. But he is. Nobody on the roster other than Ball is as adept at making the extra pass at the right time. Another 4 assists last night.

No other team in the Association comes even close defensively to our three starting bigs.

I was a little concerned about our team toughness after trading Ju, but I have no concerns now. The Pelicans wanted a street fight last night, and we didn't back down. Bones is obviously a flawed basketball player and quite small, but he adds a degree of toughness that I like...he's always in the middle of things when they get heated. Clark and Rudy add toughness too.

Not a great game for Clark, but we're now 4-1 when he plays 15+ minutes. I'll continue to track this as long as is suits my narrative .

We're 7-3, just a game out of first, and have won 4 of our last 5 without Ant. And we're coming home for 8 games all of which we should be favored in. We obviously need Ant to contend and he was playing at a very high level pre-surgery, but as many thought, the ball movement with him out has been really fun to watch...so many wide open corner threes!

Pretty good summary, not much I disagree with. I will say that while Clark was a little rougher on offense last night, he put every ball carrier he matched up against in a straight jacket. Fears, Murrary, and Murphy had nothing for him, and it's actually a facet in which he's notably improved--- which is saying something