Pelicans Win Their 4th in a Row After Traveling to Orlando to Take on the Magic
New Orleans Pelicans 110 - Orlando Magic 104
The Pelicans entered tonight with a 3-game winstreak after beating the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday night. The Pelicans might possibly have started their own Covid outbreak as Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Naji Marshall both entered the league’s health and safety protocols today. Jonas Valanciunas also missed tonight with an illness, but it was deemed to not be Covid. New Orleans faced Orlando tonight who are basically in the thick of their own Covid team outbreak. The Magic entered the night with 10 players out who either started at the beginning of the year or was added to the team. We will need to keep an eye on the Pelicans going forward and see if they have any other players added to the league’s protocols list. Let’s get into the game.
With Jonas out, Willy Hernangomez got the start for the Pelicans, and on the first offensive possession, Willy had the ball stripped from him on the set opening play. The Pelicans did score their first 8 points all in the paint as they were coming downhill attacking the rim. For the Magic, most of their points early on came in transition plus one score where New Orleans just did not get back quick enough after a score. Devonte Graham started the game off making his first two 3-pointers, both off of catch and shoot attempts. He did have a couple pick and roll looks early that just did not produce great looks at that was a theme for basically the rest of the game. Might have been from Graham normally running pick and rolls with Jonas and not Willy or Jaxson Hayes who returned back into the lineup, but I just think Graham had a bad night with the ball in his hands or shots off of the dribble. Brandon Ingram continued his impressive play, drawing 4 fouls on his defenders with only 5:15 left in the first quarter. Second-year Magic guard Cole Anthony had a bad behind the back pass in a pick roll that lead to a Josh Hart transition layup which is becoming a running joke almost with how good he is at finishing these attempts. Tomas Satoransky had probably his best game of the season tonight finishing with 9 points, 3 assists, and one steal and block while shooting 3 for 6 from the field and 1 for 2 on 3-pointers. Not an extremely impressive statline, but he was great running the pick and roll which is how he got his first score of the game by knocking down a floater. I noted that the Pelicans had a 9 point lead in the first quarter when Hayes checked in to replace Willy to see how his minutes went. Of course on his first possession, Jaxson sprints to the rim after a Brandon Ingram miss for a putback dunk attempt. This lead to a transition layup attempt by the Magic that they just blew the fairly easy make. Sato ran the pick and roll with Hayes pretty well as he kept whipping the ball into the weak side corner. The Hayes minutes went pretty well overall as the Pelicans finished the first quarter with a 15 point lead. Jaxson Hayes finished the game with 2 points, 3 rebounds, and 6 fouls in 15 minutes played.
Willy returned to start the second quarter and had a post-up attempt against for Tennessee forward, Admiral Schofield, but waited too long and was double teamed. Willy had a below average game to me, and I do not think you can count it to the minutes increase because early on I felt like he was a little disappointing. Devonte Graham fouled Cole Anthony for a 3-shot foul which I feel like happens once a game almost, usually it’s Garrett Temple. The Magic did have two possessions in a row where they airballed a 3-pointer short. They were coming off of a back to back where they beat the Atlanta Hawks, but they would end up playing much better in the second half. Gary Harris was Orlando’s best and most consistent player in the first half to me. Rookie forward from Michigan Franz Wagner was running a lot of pick and rolls which I was pretty impressed with taking into account his size and length. He was getting to the rim in the first half but just could not finish when they was any contact. Josh Hart had a nice pick and roll that lead to an off the dribble 3 while Graham continued to struggle. The Pelicans did not score on a single Graham pick and roll from my count while watching the game. With all of that said, New Orleans did enter halftime with a 12 point lead over the Orlando.
To start the second half, Brandon Ingram made his first 5 baskets, basically all mid-range shots around the elbows. He was great all night and has been for a few weeks now. The off-ball action worked really well tonight, especially the free throw line cut to the elbow that Willie likes to run for BI. Ingram finished with a game high 31 points on 12 for 23 shooting including 6 rebounds and 4 assists. He was consistent all game which is kind of why I did not touch on him much in the first half. One sequence during the third quarter, Graham hits another catch and shoot 3, so on the next possession, Graham gets an off-ball screen from Willy towards the break, but Cole Anthony fought over the screen and blocks Graham’s 3-pointer. After, the Magic went on a pretty decent run. The Pelicans had around 5 straight scoreless possessions where Ingram barely touched the ball. Then, on the next possession, Ingram runs a pick and roll and hits Graham for another 3. Graham finished the game with 20 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists. He shot 5 for 17 from the field and 5 for 14 from three, again almost all of his 3-pointers came from someone else creating the shot for him. When Orlando went on their run, it again included a lot of transition scores cutting the lead all the way down to 7. Wagner was also finishing much better around the rim during the second half. Jaxson Hayes had a nice possession where he stepped up on a driving Anthony as no one picked up the ball, but this step up gave Satoransky just enough time to sprint back and knock the ball out of Wendell Carter’s hands. The Magic also began doubling Brandon Ingram, even on the off-ball action, during this stretch. Willie Green had another great ATO that gave BI a wide open mid-range look along the baseline. The Pelicans finished the third quarter only up by 5 points.
In the fourth quarter, Hayes and Graham ran a pick and roll so badly that they ran into each other after the initial screen. Sato picked off a pass and scored an and-one on the fastbreak. Graham threw maybe the worst lob attempt of the season so far to Hayes after a pick and roll. It was not a good decision or even an accurate pass at that. When BI and Sato were not on the court, Orlando would pressure our guards beyond the perimeter and slow down the offense. One of the few reasons Sato has a place on this team is being a much needed ball-handler and passer. When Ingram checked back into the fourth with 7:00 left, the Pelicans had a 7 point lead. Josh Hart hit two big 3-pointers in a row. The first coming off of a Herb Jones offensive rebound, and the other came from a swing pass from Devonte Graham. Franz Wagner drove from the corner to rim and missed a layup attempt, but Carter grabbed the offensive rebound and hit Gary Harris for a corner 3. Cole Anthony hit a fadeaway mid-range on Hart which was followed by a massive 3-pointer from Graham. Then, Cole Anthony comes down to hit a layup, but BI responds with another mid-range shot to bring the lead back up to 5. On the next defensive possession, Josh Hart forced a floater from Wagner that he missed short. The Magic’s last hope, down by 5, Cole Anthony launched a ridiculously long 3-pointer when he probably could’ve gotten a better shot if he had just taken his time, but after this miss it was mostly free throws as the Pelicans close out the game with a 6 point win.
All in all, another great game from BI and Josh Hart remains as consistent as ever. I just want to keep an eye out for any new Covid cases on the team that could potentially ruin this stretch of good play and winning streak.