Clippers dominated vs. Pelicans, Kawhi Leonard & LA “sloppy” in loss | Hoops Tonight

Clippers dominated vs. Pelicans, Kawhi Leonard & LA “sloppy” in loss | Hoops Tonight

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So you guys don’t miss any of our content over the course of this season all right let’s talk some basketball so we’re going to start with Pelicans Clippers so the Pelicans just absolutely jumped the Clippers early on in this game they actually won the uh first

Quarter 36 to 19 and pretty much stiff armed him the rest of the way there was a little bit of a comeback like kind of a semi comeback in the early fourth quarter but the Pelicans immediately extended the lead again they put Zion Williamson on Kawhi Leonard to kind of

Match his strength which I thought was really smart from a matchup perspective it also to me is like a is an a defensive assignment where you can get some high production out of Zion because it’s very singularly focused they put Brandon Ingram on Paul George to match

His length and then that allowed them to put herb Jones herb Jones I should say on James Harden and you know typically James Harden can catch some pretty good matchups in uh in these in uh in his specific role as the third best perimeter player on the team but the

Pelicans have the bodies to kind of go body for body with these guys and they put herb Jones herb Jones on I always call him herb Jones it’s herb Jones they put herb Jones on Harden and he just killed him on both ends of the floor to

Start the game was locking him up at the point of attack forcing turnovers applying really good pressure on him and pick and roll to make those crosscourt passes to like Terren man difficult I clipped a couple examples of this but when you put uh uh when you’re defending

In pick and roll ball pressure is so so so important because you know es especially on a team like the Pelicans that’s going to bring Jonas valunas so far out in the coverage out to the perimeter there’s going to be openings on the weak side and so if I can get

That pass over the top on time and on target on a rope to the shooting pocket my defense is compromised and teren man’s either going to have a wide open Catch and shoot three or he’s going to be able to drive and kick out of it and

They’re going to get great looks but if I can pressure the basketball and I can force a looping pass or a deflected pass it buys me a chance to rotate and Herb Jones is just so good with that active hands high hands getting those deflections and bothering those

Over-the-top passes he was also beating Harden on the other end of the floor just by running his Lane in transition getting out in front of him cutting back door just really really active early in the game dominated that matchup with James Harden which went a Long Way to

The early lead for pelicans and then on the other end of the flooor just really high level driving kick basketball from the Pelicans I cut a lot of examples of high level closeout attacking from the pels and I want to give Zion Williamson a lot of credit for this one because

They were using a combination of pick and rolls and Zion isos to basically pull the uh Clippers players down into help and when they would pull them into help quick OnPoint swing passes and then quick decisions attacking Closeouts ended up generating the offense CJ McCollum was particularly great early in

The game attacking Closeouts Larry Nance Jr even had one against plumbley where he drove and and kicked to Trey Murphy in the left corner for a three they converted 26 spot up opportunities in this game into 30 points that’s 1.15 points per possession which is obviously amazing they’re at 1.1 for the season

Which ranks sixth in the NBA so it’s typically something that they are great at and like again Zion Williamson just his ability when he’s kind of bringing the ball down the floor with some Verve and getting into those In-N-Out dribbles how it just kind of causes everybody to

Kind of coales around him and like there was a specific play where Zion brought the ball up the floor in important you can imagine ball handler on ball Defender helper at the nail so this guy here not only does he know he has a closeout opportunity he knows

Where the angle of the close out’s coming from Paul George is going to be closing out to his left hand side and trying to chase him off the line because he’s a good shooter so that is a read that you have to make as the spot up

Player to quickly catch and rip to the right and if you watch the play and I clip this one and put it in my thread this morning he uh Zion Williamson makes a swing pass CJ’s already loading up for the rip before the ball gets to him and then he

Catches and racks to the right Paul George has no chance to keep him in front because he’s so far out of position and CJ drives right into the lane zubach steps up but he just stops and Pops like a little floater in the lane that’s really high level close out

Attacking reading the help Defender knowing where your angle is stopping short instead of over penetrating getting an offensive foul challenging a rim protector something stupid like stupid like that the highlevel Finish which is the high soft floater but uh Zion was causing a lot of issues for the

Clippers with them loading up on him he had 10 assists in that game and he kind of closed the deal because the Pelicans went up 36 to19 after the first quarter they kind of stiff armed the Clippers until the second half when they made a

Little bit of a run they actually got it back down to four and then Zion had back to back and ones against plumbley underneath the basket and then Jose Jose Alvarado hit a a uh three in the right corner it was like bang bang bang next thing you know they’re up double digits

Again and the game is over so uh really really impressive 2-a game from Zion Williamson the Pelicans have won four games in a row they had dropped three in a row before that to the Thunder the Bucks and the Celtics and they didn’t really compete in those games either and

That’s been kind of a theme this year like they just kind of have been getting blown out by some of the better teams in the league they’re three and six uh before last night against the teams that were in my top five list of contenders

And last night was a big step in the right direction on that front they went into LA and dominated the Clippers really good on both ends of the floor during this four game stretch a 123 offensive rating a 107 defensive rating outscoring opponents by 16 points per 100 possession so a really impressive

Stretch of basketball from the Pelicans on the Clippers front super sloppy they were getting beat down the floor in transition multiple times earlier in the game Kawhi Leonard got ripped in the back court for a pick six James Harden got ripped in the back court for a pick six this was

All in the first quarter too and then on defense they were overh helping and losing sight of man in ball and like here’s the thing this is this happens in the NBA it just does no team is immune to it like like like every every team that comes

Out the gates and kicks everyone’s butt they always have a stretch where they really struggle the 2022 Warriors what did they start 15 and one and they were what one or two seed most of the season but even before Steph got hurt they had a stretch where they dropped a bunch of

Games in a row it happens you know like the uh uh I remember the Lakers in 2020 they started what 24 and three and then they literally right around Christmas lost four games in a row so like it it it’s just just about guaranteed to happen because you play 82 games there’s

An inevitable you know kind of EB and flow with your effort and focus and energy and things along those lines the key is not letting it happen very often this is one of those things where it’s a completely acceptable thing to happen but you just want to avoid it happening in Mass you

Want to avoid it happening too frequently right like that kind of thing can happen I want to give the the Pelicans credit too like they just came out from the opening tip brought a ton of physicality at the point of attack a ton of lengthen athleticism they can

Really bother you on that front they had a really smart offensive game plan and got a big Win

Jason Timpf reacts to the New Orleans Pelicans beating Kawhi Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers 117-106. Jason highlights Zion Williamson’s 21 points, and dives into the poor shooting night from the Clippers, who failed to have a single player score 20 points.

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