Pels grit out a 103-100 win over OKC. BI with 34, Nice game for Jose starting for CJ who sat with a sore ankle. Big story was Josh Richardson with 10 pts, 5 steals in his debut. You can see the intelligence in his game, especially on the defensive end. Now in sole possession of the 7 seed, but only a game out of 4th, at the Lakers Wednesday and then the AS break.
Lakers 120, Pels 102. Ugly loss, Lakers jumped to an 8-0 lead and never trailed. Pels fall to 8th at the break, but still just a 3-game difference between them and 3rd seed Sacramento. Now get a full week off before visiting Toronto next Thursday, thought the announcers said last night Dyson Daniels should be back for that game.
Pels clinch at least a play-in berth tonight with a crazy OT win over the Grizzlies. Trailed by 17 at half, came back to take the lead and led by 6 with 12 seconds left, and couldn't protect the lead. Then scored 10 straight to start OT for the win. If the Clips beat the Lakers tonight (up 19 at half) they'd be tied for 7th spot with LAL, who would have the tiebreaker. 5-seed is still a mathematical possibility. Two games to go, home vs the Knicks Friday and at Minny Sunday. The Knicks 5-spot in the East is now set, so they may rest some people Friday.
About last night's game...first time in franchise history they have had 3 players score in the 30's. Really amazing thing is that Ingram wasn't one of them. Trey, CJ and Herb Jones with a career-high 35.
Pelicans 113, Knicks 105. Second night in a row BI hasn't shot really well (last 3 game defenses have really attacked him with double teams) but other people are stepping up. Tonight it was Trey - now with back-to-back 30 point nights even though he didn't shoot well from behind the arc. CJ had 23 and Jones 15 on 7 of 7 shooting, also 3 blocked shots. Jones and Murphy are playing really, really well right now, both peaking at just the right time. If we can get help on the coast from Phoenix (vs LAL tonight) and Sacramento (GS) we could wake up tomorrow tied for 6th and holding the tie-breaker with Golden State.
Inexcusable loss to the T-Wolves tonight. Controlled the game through the first half, had Minny so frustrated that Jaylen McDaniels took himself out of the game by hurting his hand when he punched a wall. Then Rudy Gobert got himself sent home (as in "get dressed and leave the building") at halftime for punching a teammate on the sidelines. And this - you would think - demoralized team managed to get fired up and outwork the Pelicans for the last 15 minutes to take the win. Shooting also atrocious, think we were something like 3 for 22 from 3. So....we do it the hard way. Ninth seed, will host OKC late (8:30) Wednesday and if they win that, travel to either LA or Minnesota Friday for the right to face Denver in the first round.
And just like that, season over. Lose in the play-in to OKC. A season of frustration actually culminated in the pre-game shoot around. A day after Zion Williamson admits to the media that his injury is healed, but he's not playing because he doesn't fell confident in his leg and doesn't want to play until he "feels like Zion," Zion goes out in the shoot around and throws down about 10 dunks. Then puts on his street clothes for the game. This kid is a public relations nightmare.
at this point I’m not sure of what the return on the investment would be , but I wonder would Zion feel like Zion in a different uniform….
I'm not going to "like" the comment, because I hope you're wrong. As many games as he's missed, he's played more game at this point in his career than Joel Embiid, and there are no more questions about him. Zion's health is so poorly managed its borders on insane, and that's partly on the team and partly on him.
