Results: Win vs. Denver, 122-107; Loss at Oklahoma City, 115-104; Loss at Brooklyn, 135-125
The good for the week in New Orleans was the Pelicans finally won a game and, ironically, it was the toughest opponent of the week in Denver before falling in seemingly more winnable games at the Thunder and at the Nets on Monday.
The common theme – which we’ll touch on later in the piece – not just on the week but on the season is the complete lack of defense. Monday’s game was the most egregious example where, on a night where Brandon Ingram played arguably the best game of his career, the team could not get a stop in Brooklyn and fell down the stretch.
All of it results in New Orleans staring at a 1-6 start and likely any hopes of a dark horse run into the playoffs long, long out the window.
Player of the Week: Brandon Ingram
Stats for week – 24.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 65.9 FG%, 42.9 3P%
Ingram is the winner yet again this week and it wasn’t particularly close. While a couple other players had nice weeks, namely in Jahlil Okafor, no one was as dominant as Ingram was this week.
The culmination of his great week came on Monday when he had a career-high 40 points on a blistering 17-of-24 shooting from the field. Ingram has slowed down marginally from beyond the three-point line but on the season, he’s still shooting 55.2/48.6/74.3 in easily the most efficient start to the season.
With Jrue Holiday struggling this season so far when active and Zion Williamson still injured, Ingram has become the team’s leader on the court at least in the scoring department. He’s become the gem many expected him to be and has made the Anthony Davis trade even less a sour pill to swallow.
Lineup of the week: Holiday-Ball-Ingram-Melli-Okafor
Off. Rating – 128.6
Def. Rating – 102.8
Net Rating – 25.8
Derrick Favors injury was, obviously, a net negative for the team but the lineup that was put on the floor as a result in the past week for the Pelicans was one that produced at a surprisingly high rate. Jahlil Okafor stepped into the starting lineup to take Favors spot then Alvin Gentry moved Ingram back to the three and inserted Nicolo Melli into the power forward spot.
The end result of the musical chairs was the best offensive lineup the Pelicans had of the week. In fact, this five-man lineup ranked fourth in the entire league over the last week of teams without 17 minutes, which is the exact amount this lineup played.
Interestingly, this lineup also ranked 16th in the league defensively under the same qualifiers out of over 80 five-man lineups used.
Stat of the Week: 114.8
In lieu of a play of the week this week, we have a stat of the week because there is a much larger problem that has become apparent for the Pelicans.
The 114.8 signifies the defensive rating of the Pelicans on the season, which is now second-worst in the league after Monday’s loss to Brooklyn. Only the Golden State Warriors, who are fielding players few NBA fans have ever heard of, have a worse defensive rating on the season at 117.6.
The Pelicans actually have a top five offense in the league on the year but the defense is so incredibly bad that the net rating of -4.3 ranks them 21st in the league. For a team with so many solid individual defenders, having a team defense this poor is inexcusable and must change if the Pelicans want to remain competitive, let alone ever battle for a playoff spot.
