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  • Pelicans at Hawks

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    lethalweapon3

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    “Where the Miller Lite women at?”

     

    The New Orleans Pelicans are officially off the schneid, climbing to 1-6 after topping the Mavericks at home last night. They had a chance at their first win there last Friday, wiping out a 17-point fourth quarter lead by the Atlanta Hawks in the space of just six minutes, a run that proved to be quite instructive for the Hawks a few days later.

    The Pels needed a Career Night from their star, Anthony Davis (career-high 43 points, 33 in the second half; 4 of his team’s 9 steals; 3 of his team’s 7 blocks), just to make things interesting at the end. Can they notch their first road victory tonight at the Highlight Factory (8:00 PM, Fox Sports Southeast, Fox Sports New Orleans), if the pterodactyl-winged Davis cannot join them?

    Davis’ hip hopped just before halftime in yesterday’s 120-105 victory over Dallas, shortly after contributing 13 points and 5 rebounds in the second quarter alone. It was a 16-point advantage at that point for the Big Easy Birds, who sprinted to a crowd-pleasing 12-0 start and never relinquished the lead, Dallas’ closing flurry too little, too late to evaporate a 28-point lead. Ryan Anderson’s season-highs of 25 points (10-for-16 FGs) and 11 boards, plus recent arrival Ish Smith’s 12 assists, helped New Orleans hold serve the rest of the way.

    X-rays on his hip contusion proved negative, yet Davis is listed as doubtful to appear tonight. For a continually banged-up outfit, it helped to have center Omer Asik back in the saddle against the Mavs. But he, like Jrue Holiday (15 minutes last night) is time-restrained by head coach Alvin Gentry. Asik was only supposed to log five minutes on the front end of the back-to-back, but wound up totaling 15 minutes through the third quarter, after Davis did not return.

    How much more Asik plays tonight, and how limited the playing time is for he and Jrue (also listed as doubtful), will be worth monitoring. Eric Gordon (season-high 22 points, 3-for-7 3FGs vs. ATL last Friday) will try picking up the offensive slack, while Luke Babbitt (13 points, 4-for-4 2FGs vs. ATL) will strive to be tonight’s Career Night beneficiary, by sharing Davis’ spot at power forward with Anderson.

    The Hawks (7-2) catch a bit of a break themselves, as Jeff Teague (24 points, 9 assists, 3 blocks!, 6 TOs vs. Minny) earned no suspension for Bjelica-slapping the opponent during the frustrated stretch where Minnesota finally regained momentum from the Hawks. The Flagrant 2 foul imposed on Teague means he won’t get suspended until he gets three more infraction points during the season.

    While it was to no avail, Dallas’ quartet of Dirk Nowitzki, Charlie Villanueva, Zaza Pachulia, and Dwight Powell, plus forward Justin Anderson and guard Deron Williams (26-for-38 combined FGs in-the-paint) tried to bruise the defensively fragile Pels (110.3 opponent points per-48, worst in NBA; 58.2 opponent FG% in-the-paint) on the interior. Atlanta can try similar tactics, including the improving decision making of Dennis Schröder (16 assists, 4 TOs last three games), into the mix.

    But, unlike Dallas, the Hawks must not fail to get back and set defensively in transition, a continual problem on Monday when the Timberwolves blazed to 72 first-half points and a seemingly insurmountable 34-point lead early in the third quarter. Gentry still wants his Pelicans to run, even if it’s into the ground, against a Hawks team that just played its fifth game in seven days.

    Atlanta may be going through a bit of a metamorphosis with Kyle Korver’s role in the offense. Threezus has been the essential catch-and-shoot king during his Hawks tenure, leading the NBA with 8.5 PPG (and 49.9 FG%) on catch-and-shoot field goal attempts last season; in 2013-14, his 50.6 FG% (8.3 PPG) also was tops. Thus far this season, Kyle’s 5.4 catch-and-shoot PPG (42.9 FG%) ranks him behind Al Horford, Paul Millsap, Kent Bazemore (a scintillating 68.0 FG%), and 29 others.

    Instead, Korver seems increasingly reliant on dribble hand-off plays (9-for-14 FGs, 2nd-most attempts in league, behind J.J. Redick) to get openings. Are these new wrinkles in Mike Budenholzer’s offense? Are these plays better-suited for Kyle’s early-season conditioning, or are opponents getting finally hip to the game, and closing out better off screens designed to get him open? It will take more time to see if this is The New Normal, but Kyle’s teammates could stand to do a better job of creating better catch-and-release looks for him.

    Also part of the metamorphosis is Al Horford’s attempt to join Paul Millsap in the three-point-shooting party. While it is admirable to forsake the long-range two-pointers, and his 23.4 3-point shot-volume ratio is only slightly ahead of Jeff Teague’s, Horford’s 31.7 eFG% on spot-up shots ranks only behind Matt Barnes (31.5 eFG%) – and Millsap (27.8 eFG%) among the league’s Top 20 spot-up jumpshooters. Particularly on a team that de-emphasizes offensive rebounding, Millsap and Horford could stand to drive more often from the perimeter and make plays for teammates.

    With drives and cuts to the lane, Al could draw more contact and take advantage of his 88.9 FT%, currently on just 2.0 FT attempts per game. Teague and Millsap are the only Hawks getting to the free throw line with any frequency, but Atlanta’s top eight scorers are shooting a collective 83.5% from the free throw line.

    Pushing the rock at a high pace is good if you know what you’re doing; otherwise, you’re just ballin’ out of control. Last season, only the Warriors exceeded 100.0 possessions per-48 in the league for a full season. This year, New Orleans (103.2 pace) is among 14 teams in that 100-plus club; the Hawks (99.98) are among seven other teams just a shade behind them.

    Remove the Dubs from the equation, and the Top-7 NBA teams in pace have a combined record of 12-30; take out Atlanta’s next opponent, Brad Stevens’ frenetic Celtics, and the cumulative record of the remaining five drops to 9-27. Energetic play must be combined with efficient shot selection, and with sound halfcourt and transition defense. The team that displays these elements best on the floor over four quarters should have a leg up tonight.

    Thank You Veterans! And Let’s Go Hawks!

    ~lw3


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