Let’s Own the Spurs, Shall We?

Tonight the New Orleans Pelicans and the San Antonio Spurs are playing a game. It’ll be the team’s third out of four meetings for the year. If this game is anything like the first two, we’re in for a tight contest. These games between Southwest Division teams offer up the dichotomy of established kings versus hopeful fighters, old versus young. In a Western Conference that’s looking more and more like a school of piranhas, every win is crucial, particularly for a young team like the Pelicans. It’s time they take it to the current royalty of the NBA and make themselves rivals to the Spurs.

Because even though these teams sit in the same division, they weren’t “rivals” by any sense of the definition. The Pelicans were just another blind calf sent up to slaughter for the Godless Death Machine that are the Spurs. Just look at last year: the Spurs went 4-0 against the Pelicans. The Pelicans would have a chance, and then the Spurs would happen. Just look at this game. The Pelicans began the fourth quarter up 12 points, and then Spurs gonna Spurs and they doubled up New Orleans 38-19 to win by 7. I was at that game, and saw Anthony Marshon Davis, Jr. head to the locker room after the game. I was hoping to touch the hand of God, but AD was having none of it. He was fed the fuck up. He was sick of losing, he was sick of seeing leads slip and sick of seeing a professional skull crusher on the other bench.

Which is what makes this year’s performance against the Spurs so uniquely satisfying so far. This year, the Pelicans have taken the first two in the series, one in San Antonio and one in New Orleans last week. In case you forgot how that first one in San Antonio ended, here’s a reminder. The GAWD Altron took Tiago Splitter’s ass to the cup to score the game winning layup. Anthony was killing the king that day, even if he had to be the assassin, the sword, and the bladesmith all by his damn self. Last week, the team fought with the Spurs, took a lead and kept the old fuckers at bay. And if you think Anthony doesn’t hold a special place in his heart for beating the Spurs, just watch when he blocks Tim Duncan and gets a jump ball. That is a man who is tired of losing to the fucking Spurs and ready to fucking win.

So, since the Pelicans have already been kicking the Spurs’ ass this year, they might as well kick some more ass tonight, right? It’s just nice to get wins. The Pelicans are gonna need every goddamn win they get to play postseason basketball. Also, a win against the Spurs is another win against competition for the same playoff positioning. It sounds crazy to say, but the Spurs are in seventh place in the conference right now! They’re only two games up on New Orleans! They’ve earned the benefit of the doubt to ascend to the top tier in the West, but as of now, they’re fighting over New Orleans for the same resources.

More than that, it’s nice to beat THIS goddamn team. The Spurs have been the embodiment of basketball perfection for the last few years. Even as the Heat and other teams have come close to playing with the same beautiful offense reliant on spacing and ball movement, the Spurs have always stood at the pinnacle. I have loved watching the Spurs. I couldn’t even hate them, because their successes weren’t hindering anything the Pelicans were doing. It’s not like San Antonio victories are what kept the Pelicans out of the playoffs last year. But this year…well, times have changed. While I’ll always love the Spurs’ style of play, the brilliance of their individual players, and the everyday treat that is Gregg Popovich, now I can muster up a healthy dose of hate for them. No more are they just a ruthless despot lording over the Pelicans’ lives. Now they’re just another fiefdom fighting for real estate in the Western Conference. It’s good to hate the Spurs. It feels healthy. The Pelicans have already gotten inside the Spurs kitchen with the two early Ws. They might as well prop their dirty shoes up on the dinner table tonight.

Pelicans Beat Knicks, .500 After 20 Games

JR THE GREENHOUSE GAWD

The Pelicans beat the Knicks 104-93 last night. That’s the two-time world champion New York Knicks, if we’re keeping count. The win puts the Pelicans at 10-10 after 20 games, one game behind the Phoenix Suns for the eighth spot in the Western Conference. The Pelicans had four players in double figures, with Tyreke Evans’s 27 points leading all scorers. Let’s take a look at what happened in this game, what we’ve seen over the first 20 games and what’s up next.

Altron takes it easy

Anthony Davis finished with 18 points, 8 rebounds, 3 blocks and 1 steal. In a game where the Pelicans pulled away in the second half, The Browed God didn’t get into the fourth quarter until the 4:26 mark. Anthony only shot 6-14 from the field and 6-9 from the free throw line. That puts him at 65% from the charity stripe over the last five games. Those numbers will come back up, it’s just a rough stretch over a small sample size. However, it’s a good sign that he got to the line 9 times in a game. And it’s not like he didn’t have his usual share of “holy shit” moments either.

TyrekeBall: alive and well

Dedicated readers of this blog and its about seven posts will know about TyrekeBall, Tyreke Evans’s own sport that he engages in during NBA games. The basic premise is: passing is optional, cool dribbling is the most important part, and traveling and carrying don’t exist. Also try to score points because that’s pretty cool. Well, 5-time TyrekeBall MVP Tyreke Evans had a great showing in both his own sport and actual basketball last night. Evans finished with 27 points on 11-15 shooting, 6 assists and 4 rebounds. But it’s not just what he put up, but how he got those numbers. Tyreke started strong, picking up a transition traveling call in the first minute. Later, he completed the TyrekeBall-mandatory spin move, which led to an easy dump off to AD for the dunk. Tyreke also had a nice pocket pass for another Altron dunk, and he made a few great baseline cuts for easy layups. It’s so great that the Knicks don’t know how to play basketball.

The supporting cast shows up

The last few games, the Pelicans’ bench has been doing its job. They got it done last night as well. While the Knicks’ bench outscored the Pelicans’ 36-24, 17 of those points came from J.R. BLOOOOOOOD. The Greenhouse Deity got those 17 on 6-18 shooting, including 2-6 from three. I’ll take that. Dante Cunningham had more than 30 minutes, chipping in 7 points, 5 rebounds and some tough defense. He looks like a good fit so far. He doesn’t have three point range, but his midrange stroke gets it done, and his toughness is welcome on a bench that just has to hold it down until the starters can clean up. Also, Omer Asik came up big last night. He finished with 16 points, 14 rebounds and 2 blocks. It was good to see him look useful on offense. Too often recently, he didn’t offer enough as a roll man in the pick-and-roll game. It was like he believed that catching a basketball and successfully putting it in the bucket were mutually exclusive ideas. Hopefully his offense looks closer to last night for the rest of the year, while he continues to bring wonderful interior defense.

PELICANS AFTER 20 GAMES

The Pelicans are sitting right at 10-10 after 20 games. While it’s an improvement from last year, it’s not the pace required for this team’s goal of postseason basketball. As of now, they’re a game behind the 12-11 Suns for the eighth spot. In a surprise to nobody, the West is a giant bloodbath where your hopes and dreams get swirlies, and then the West takes pictures of those swirlies and sends it around to all your friends, especially Katie. I don’t know why you told the West you liked Katie, you knew it would just use that against you later, and now Katie got the director’s cut of those swirlie pictures and everything is terrible. Why did the West think that a panoramic picture of that swirlie was a good idea? The bathroom is such a confined space.

What I’m trying to say is the Pelicans are in a tough spot, as they’ll probably need 50 wins at least to get to the playoffs. But on the positive side, they’re at 9th in the league in offensive rating at 105.7. Unfortunately, a 105.8 defensive rating puts them at 23rd. In the West, the Pelicans are 9th in net rating at -0.2. The team can take solace that they’ve played 12 out of 20 on the road and come out at .500, but an improvement is necessary. Let’s see if the team can gel more, and hold the fort down while Eric Gordon heals up. Obviously banking on Eric Gordon’s health isn’t ideal, but this is the reality at the moment. His shooting and scoring ability are missed, and his absence overextends an already thin second unit.

WHAT’S COMING UP

Tonight the Pelicans take on the Dallas Mavericks in Dallas. The game will be on ESPN, and hopefully the Pels look better on national TV than they did against Golden State last week. The Mavs game starts a rough stretch of games for the Pelicans. In case you weren’t aware, the Mavericks are beating the dog shit out of every defense they face. Their offensive rating of 113.9 is miles beyond the rest of the league. The fifth-ranked Golden State Warriors, with a rating of 107.4, are closer to the 20th-ranked offense of the Rockets (102.2) than they are to the Mavs. So, while beating up on the Lakers and Knicks is fun, now the Pelicans will have to do some work on the defensive side. After that, the Pelicans have a three game homestand, starting with the Cavaliers and superstar Matthew Dellavedova on Friday. Then, New Orleans hosts the aforementioned Warriors on Sunday before finishing up with the Jazz on Tuesday. Jazz aside, these games will be a serious test for the Pelicans. That’s three great offenses that will put a lot of stress on the defense. If Cunningham can continue to contribute on that end and the offense can keep up its good play, the team has a chance to make a few statements.