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Game Preview: New Orleans Pelicans at home against the Phoenix Suns

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 5:47 p.m. ET

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Dec 18, 2015; Phoenix, AZ, USA; New Orleans Pelicans forward Anthony Davis (23) goes up for a layup over Phoenix Suns center Alex Len (21) during the second half at Talking Stick Resort Arena. The Suns won 104-88. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

The New Orleans Pelicans hope a day of rest at home will be enough to beat the Phoenix Suns and earn their first win of the season.

How long before we’re allowed to worry about the New Orleans Pelicans? Five games isn’t nearly enough… or is it?

Can we ponder the length of the leash the Front Office has Coach Alvin Gentry on? What about the length of the leash the Front Office itself is operating within, after horrid starts in successive seasons? This is still a team with a win-now mandate from ownership, and a ticking contract attached to its best player.

Tonight marks the best opportunity the schedule has provided the Pels to nab a win in what has become a nasty first couple of weeks. A home game on Wednesday, despite going to overtime, afforded them an entire day of rest in New Orleans on Thursday before matching up with Phoenix at home tonight.

Fortunately, the Suns are in a slightly worse situation, playing a competitive overtime game of their own on Wednesday night before traveling to New Orleans on their off-day yesterday.

Phoenix’s star, Devin Booker, is battling a lingering foot injury, and has rested for the past two games. The Suns are a young team, with three teenagers in their rotation and most every other player in their early twenties. There is an opportunity here for a rested and more experienced Pelicans team to capture victory from the grasp of a disadvantaged Phoenix squad.

Then again, opportunity has rarely spelled positive results for this year’s New Orleans Pelicans. Fortunately, Anthony Davis will have an advantage in every matchup he faces tonight, as the Suns have no player capable of keeping pace with his athleticism and skill. That’s generally been a recipe for success this year, so hopefully it will be enough tonight (though don’t forget his struggles against Jared Dudley last season).

Don’t talk to me about the defense.

Oct 28, 2016; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Phoenix Suns forward T.J. Warren (12) handles the ball in front of Oklahoma City Thunder guard Andre Roberson (21) during the second quarter at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Who, When, Where and How to Watch

When and Where: The game will be played at 7:00 PM CST at the Smoothie King Center.

How To Watch: The game will be broadcast on Fox Sports New Orleans and NBA League Pass. Or, you know, those other places.

Injuries: 

New Orleans: Jrue Holiday (Personal Reasons), Quincy Pondexter (Left Knee) and Tyreke Evans (Right Knee) are all out.

Phoenix: Devin Booker is Questionable with a lingering Toe injury.

Projected Starting Lineups:

New Orleans: PG Tim Frazier, SG E’Twaun Moore, SF Solomon Hill, PF Dante Cunningham C Anthony Davis

Phoenix: PG Eric Bledsoe, SG Devin Booker, SF T.J. Warren, PF Jared Dudley, C Tyson Chandler

Other Players to Watch: 

New Orleans: Buddy Hield, Terrence Jones, Langston Galloway, and Lance Stephenson

Phoenix: Brandon Knight, Alex Len, Marquese Chriss, P.J. Tucker

What’s Next for the Pelicans?

The Pelicans have the weekend off to watch the Saints and recover from a brutal opening stretch. They return to action Monday in Oakland as we get Part Deux of GSW-NOLA.

Oct 31, 2015; New Orleans, LA, USA; New Orleans Pelicans forward Anthony Davis (23) blocks a shot by Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green (23) during the third quarter of a game at Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

Pack it up and call Markelle Fultz, unless the paint play improves

The Pelicans struggles on defense are well-documented if you follow games on Twitter or in the comments sections of Game Recaps, but they’re a little harder to understand if you dig into the numbers.

The Pels sit 12th in defensive efficiency (DRtg), or points allowed per 100 possessions, despite playing at the fourth-quickest pace in the league per Basketball-Reference. The team has actually averaged more than 100 possessions per game over the first two weeks, sitting at 101.5 currently. Even by giving opponents more opportunities to score every night, the Pelicans are preventing them from doing so at a decent rate.

However, the same things that we see and complain about are Twitter are backed up by statistical analysis, and help explain why the Pelicans are losing games. A full third of opponents’ field goal attempts have come within two feet of the hoop, and they are making 64.4% of those looks, again per Basketball-Reference.

Those problems in the paint, worsened by the lack of rim protection thus far, are a big reason for the team’s failures. They lost Tuesday night’s Bucks game for exactly this reason, and Kenneth Faried’s dominance in the opener can be attributed to these failures as well.

The team is also allowing a full three rebounds per game more than the next-worst squad on that list, though they rank right in the middle of the league in terms of allowing offensive rebounds, so it’s hard to blame the defense specifically for this problem.

As a whole, these problems make evident a larger problem that is worrisome for the Pelicans’ progress overall this season. The team has a clear problem in the paint. That is supposed to be where Anthony Davis earns his money on defense, but this year, the results have been dreadful. The Pelicans have been completely unable to go small effectively, including two dreadful performances with this iteration of the starting lineup.

If the small groups can’t rebound or protect the interior, Alvin Gentry will have to move away from the lineups that were supposed to be the foundation upon which this rotation was built.

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