The big question going into the season opener was what would the starting lineup be for New Orleans. Head coach Willie Green kept the lineup close to the vest and was not giving any secrets to the media. Honestly, this might be because he might change the starting lineup from game to game with Zion out. However, he will probably replacing one of the starters as Josh Hart left the game with a right knee injury. The rest of the Pelicans starting lineup included Graham, NAW, BI, and JV.
Now on the game itself. In the first quarter the one thing I noticed is the Pelicans were running some pretty good set plays to get some open looks. Hart got an open mid range shot off of a flare screen. NAW was getting a lot of looks around the rim and mid range area to start the game and continues to flash his footwork. The defense was a bit shaky at first especially since Valanciunas was afraid to close out on Embiid at the beginning of the game. Embiid was able to knock down some open threes early, but the Pelicans adjusted by having the guards flash on Embiid on the catch and then recover back to their man while Valanciunas recovered back to Embiid. Also noticed that Willie Green was matching JV’s minutes to Embiid’s minutes. Brandon Ingram struggled at first with his jump shot even though he still does not take the best looks, didn’t knock down his first jump shot until 5:30 left in the second quarter. When he started knocking down shots it was because of having better spacing and room to work. One play in the first quarter, BI cuts baseline to where Graham would screen Ingram’s man. But Graham was kind of lazy on the play, doesn’t even touch the defender, and Ingram catches the ball with his defender already on his back. Ingram did have the highlight block from the weak side and coast to coast finish. He still needs to be consistent from that side of the floor however. Ingram gave up two scores in a row in the second quarter. Ingram gives up a layup to Thybulle underneath the rim after falling asleep on the action. The other, Korkmaz sets and off-ball screen on Niangs man which leads to an open three, and BI is just standing too far away to closeout on the shot, but he also doesn’t even notice the play happening until Niang started his jumpshot.
The best quarter was clearly the second. Guys were flying all over the floor defensively, showing on Embiid when he was near the perimeter, and also forcing some turnover, something the Pelicans did not do much last year. One thing that was noticeable was the group rebounding effort which was something Willie Green kept mentioning during press conferences leading to the season opener. Philly only finished with 6 offensive rebounds to New Orleans’ 10. For the rotations, Garrett Temple and Trey Murphy were the first two guys to come off the bench to replace BI and Hart. I thought it was a bit odd that Naji Marshall didn’t come off of the bench until around 4 minutes into the second quarter. I think Naji gives great energy defensively and should come off the bench before Temple, but it is still early on in the season. Naji did finish with 20 minutes played to Temple’s 15, but that is not excluding garbage time.
The game got away from the Pelicans in the second half, especially the fourth quarter where Philly went on a 22-4 run. Pelicans were outscored by 20 in the second half. The 76ers shooting really pushed the lead in the fourth quarter especially during Furkan Korkmaz’s stretch. The young Pelican guards were not communicating on the guard-guard pick and pops which lead to open 3’s and ballooned the lead for the 76ers. Other small things like going under on screens in pick and roll action involving the bigs like Andre Drummond just lead to more open threes. This stretch was when I would have liked Willie Green to put Naji Marshall in. It seemed like every one of this plays involved NAW, Kira, or Graham as the on-ball defender. I did like Antonio Daniels’ commentary saying the New Orleans guards should have pressed guys like Korkmaz as they take the ball up the court since they are not known for their ball handling especially for Kira who’s speed can help him recover if he gambles on a steal attempt.
Overall for the guards - Graham, NAW, and Kira, I thought they did pretty well offensively. NAW started off the game great by getting shots close to the rim. His footwork is pretty good. The one play where he does his stepback move, passes out of it to JV, and then cut into the paint for the give and go was beautiful. Graham looked much more confident offensively tonight than he did in the preseason. Finished the night 6-9 from the field and 4-6 from 3 point range. His shooting was the reason David Griffin brought him to New Orleans and that showed tonight. Kira Lewis also had some good possessions. Knocked down a three and was still able to get to the rim. I still question his finishing around the rim right now. He needs to develop his floater to finish against centers playing drop coverage on the pick and rolls. There are also some moments when he attacks the rim that it seems like he is going too fast can’t seem to get his touch right on his layups. Had a play tonight where he blew a pretty open layup.
On the negative side, Valanciunas had a lid on the rim tonight. Finished the night 3-19 from the field, and he was just missing close shots around the rim that he normally hit last year. I would just say it was a bad night for him, and he was just too much in his head. He did shoot 1-3 on 3-point attempts which is nice to see the attempts. Jaxson Hayes was ok tonight in my opinion. When he came off of the bench, he was pretty active and poked a steal on Drummond after an entry pass. He still needs to get stronger if he’s going to guard starter quality centers in the post. Drummond had moments where he overpowered him in the paint, and you would see the same thing in the preseason game against the Twolves with Karl Anthony-Towns and Naz Reid. He also seems to go after every offensive rebound even when he’s not in a great position to actually get one. I think he still needs more time to develop his raw talent. And final note I’ll add on the game is on Trey Murphy. In the competitive portion of the game, he didn’t seem to have the same calmness he had during the preseason. He sped up his jumpshot on his few attempts and did not have the same natural stroke he showed during the preseason - didn’t make a 3 until garbage time. It might have just been nerves of playing in his first game, and he was just more relaxed late in the fourth quarter. Willie Green did start Murphy to start the second half after Hart went down in the first half.
Overall, there were some flashes that this roster showed that were enticing, and I did like the offensive sets and on the fly defensive adjustments Willie Green had tonight. I do not think the final score tells the whole story of how this game went.