State of the Pelicans, Zion Williamson’s Impact | Pelicans Podcast 3/19/24

State of the Pelicans, Zion Williamson’s Impact | Pelicans Podcast 3/19/24

Welcome in to the New Orleans Pelicans podcast the official podcast of your New Orleans Pelicans a podcast dedicated to everything you need to know about the squad hear from players coaches broadcasters and those who cover the NBA on a daily basis it’s time to flock up the New Orleans Pelicans podcast starts right

Now pelicans have played two games since we last chatt with you on Friday and they won both of them back on Friday 112 104 this is what it sounded like on the Pelicans radio network around the perimeter Geor three herb blocks the shot of course he does takes it in

Midair knock on herb and we’ll dunk it in 80 run wow now with eight Zion front court with one with zero oh yes roll yes sir Coast to Coast downhill Double Dutch Bus Everybody Get Out The Way Marshall in the left corner floated up Trey oh

Yes sir kiss the rim Trey Ali you don’t Trey right corner back up top Zion splits Defenders drives in andir one should have been a one Scoops it in game dagger dagger dagger head coach Willie Green had this to say on on the win uh it was fantastic

Uh we’re all super proud of uh how we responded taking care of home floor and our guys collectively they made winning plays after winning plays it was it was a fun game to be a part of Zion Williamson had an amazing night 33 points so much to talk about that his

Thoughts it’s just getting to that part of the season um just kind of letting my teammates know I’m here uh I’m with y’all uh whether it’s diving on the floor defense passing scoring uh just letting them know no I’m with y’all Trey Murphy had a solid game we’re going to get a

Lot into that here as well but then Saturday you had to come back and play the Portland Trailblazers not a playoff team but very tough in that it’s a backto back and trying to come back from that emotion that you played with on Friday took a while that first half it

Was an All-Star game as the graph and JD kept saying on the broadcast and then eventually in the final 8 minutes just 21 points given up by the defense up the floor Naji alyu oh yes sir yes sir kiss the rim Z help the weak side great weak side help Ingram that’s

What that’s the way you help your teammate to trade a CJ for three left angle defense to offense Simons to the rack off the glass and in no defense at all all right somebody make a three here or an alley Ingram on the hash mark right

Side alyuk Z got TI it in yes indeed on a tip you Goat Boy Z around the perimeter to Nodge spins left floats it up and in over D Reef thinderella J on the switch great job Ingram stepped in front and intercepted it to J extra pass McCullum left corner three good offense

To defense defense to offense more importantly CJ McCullum welcome back CJ after the game on feeling more like himself yeah I I’ve had a a lackluster a couple weeks of just missing open shots and just not not playing at a high level that I hold myself to and just getting

Back to the lab working on my craft and watching film figuring out how I can you know be efficient and and and assertive um Z pull me to the side after the game against or during the game against Clippers like I just need you to be

Aggressive I need you to be port and CJ I need you to um score to score like I need you to score I need you to shoot score like we’ll facilitate you got to shoot and I was like all right say no more I got you bro so just trying to be

Aggressive trying to pick my spots and I think you know we got a lot of talented guys a lot of guys who um create gravity in terms of you know double teams be is getting double Z’s getting double team is always wear of them JV gets double

You know what I mean so just just trying to pick my spots and be aggressive and I think some some of it was just me missing shots and then some of it was just me not being aggressive or assertive enough I think tonight um I got back to the basics and played better

All right Tom now welcome in Jim ien Hoffer from New Orleans pelicans.com Jim we had two games since we last chatted and we just kind of heard what the players and coaches felt about getting those wins and it’s the adage that I think fans hear all the time but it is

True the next game is the biggest game tonight the Brooklyn Nets and then you got three more on the road before coming home for the final 11 which I’ve called a gauntlet which we’ll get into in a second but they all are important each and everyone because we’re not only scoreboard watching we’re

Standings watching and every single night everything matters huh yeah and I I mean I think this week is definitely an opportunity for them to take advantage of this the schedule that they have I mean they’ve been one of the best road teams in the NBA over the course of

The season but especially lately the fact that they just had three know road trip against Eastern Conference teams earlier in March and now this is a four gamer you’re playing against Brooklyn which is kind of On The Fringe of playing contention they’re four games behind the Hawks you have Orlando who

Like the Pelicans are fifth in the Eastern Conference uh Miami our friends from South Florida it’s going to be interesting to get another match up against them and take another he still remembers that game that’s I was going to say take another swing at them but I

Don’t maybe I shouldn’t use that phrase and then Detroit hold on a second I’m getting a call from Adam Silver what no I’m kidding I’m kidding and then Sunday Detroit which uh to their credit they’ve moved above not having the worst record in the league after they had a 28 game

Losing streak so they’ve been actually much more competitive lately they’ve won three out of their last six games so should be an interesting week and uh for the Pelicans they just need one more win to clinch a winning record on the road so that would be a nice little feather

In their cap among a bunch of different things that they’re going to try to accomplish over the last few weeks of the regular season you know what’s incredible we’ve talked a lot about this during the season on how we compare in contrast last year and compare and contrast past success from this

Franchise right and we’ve talked about how we want to see growth and in the NBA you have to take the steps in order to be a contender to be a championship caliber Team all those different things and then that’s when you you know the missing piece or this and that so but

Man the pels basically at the start of the Season still foundationally we’re trying to figure it out because Jim we’ve never had Zion CJ bi play in the postseason it’s never happened not not a tip not a minute and we didn’t know how he’d come back can this team stay

Healthy they made things um changes in the off season to make sure that people were healthier and all that here we are March 19th about to get Dyson Daniels back in about a week and a half per Willie Green back into games just basically trying to get conditioning

Went through a full practice yesterday which is an incredible thing to do we’re in a different spot than we’ve ever been right 14 games above 500 with 15 15 games games 500 with 15 games to go tonight and then when you take a look at the possibility of what could happen

Tonight they go in for win number 42 which would match their win total from last season New Orleans has you know it hasn’t mean the 0708 team went 56 and 26 the 0809 team went 49 and 33 we thought 50 was a a weird number to try to get

Out there but Willie Green right after the All-Star break said I like that number not saying it can get there but it it’s attainable right when you look at it but getting win 42 with the Western Conference being harder than it was last year when this team was in

First place in the west through the end of that calendar year I I I just think there is legit tangible growth on what this team can do and I think they haven’t reached their potential yet no doubt and I think when you talk about the growth that they’ve shown this

Season I think we saw the first inklings of this the first steps last season when they started out um 19 and9 I think it was and they were in first place in the Western Conference until the injuries kind of derailed everything so the fact that they’ve

Built on that to a large degree had the guys on the court to a much greater extent this season in terms of you know like you mentioned CJ be Zion getting to play 50 something plus games together I mean it’s all right there right now I

Mean the LA from the last time we talked they were three games behind the Clippers now they’re only one game so fourth place is is Within Reach and something that’s possible they only need to go 9 and six to get to 50 wins um getting in the top six is also something

That is very much you know a possibility they’re two and a half games ahead of Dallas which is in seventh place and Phoenix which is in eighth place right now so there’s no doubt that they’ve made a a big jump and this weekend was was really big from a tangible

Standpoint of being able to create some more separation between themselves and some of the teams behind them know Sacramento pulled out an overtime win last night against Memphis but pelicans have a two- game lead on them and it’s really three if you if you factor in the tiebreaker so they’re sitting pretty

Well right now they just have to keep winning and keep having the success especially on the road that they’ve had lately that’s been very impressive and I think you know within a a week or two they’ll be in even better position than they are right now the word Peak you

Hear that a lot from People Like Us right in the media people that write things you want to be peeking at the right time you want to be playing your best ball whether it’s in baseball going to the playoffs football things that nature I mean there’s real tangible

Analytical thing that you can look at and be like hey this team’s playing better it it creates the oh that team will be dangerous if you have to face right in the postseason the pills right now Trey Murphy seems to be Trey Murphy guy that can play on both sides knock

Down the three attack the rim was nice to see CJ McCullum hit a couple of the threes right that was that was a good bounce back um Brandon Ingram’s defense on Saturday was incredible you just heard it in the highlights there I mean every other highlight is Brandon Ingram

Stealing the ball and doing those different things but my goodness what we’re seeing with Zion Williamson right now it’s it’s special isn’t it yeah I mean he’s been one of the best players in the league over the last couple weeks he’s eighth in the NBA in scoring average over every

Team’s last five games he’s averaging over 28 points during that span he’s been pretty much every single night he’s getting you 20 plus points his rebounding has gone up as well his activity on defense I think is really high and one of the things that you can’t really measure in stats that I’ve

Noticed is it seems like he’s just showing a lot of emotion on the court he’s pumping his fists after highlight real plays he’s getting the crowd into the game when we’re in the Smoothie King Center it just seems like he’s in such a good space right now physically mentally

Emotionally and is having so much fun and I think that’s bleeding over into especially the home games the fans are just loving the way he’s playing lately to me and I think I I’ve brought this up so many times over the last couple days the tip play look there were so many

Alley oops and dunks and things that’s happened in the last couple of games I go back to the Clipper game on that Friday where CJ mullum right wing hit you know tries to hit a three it’s it’s off the mark there’s several Clippers there Zion tips it back out it goes to

Him he reestablishes himself in the right block calls for the ball attacks immediately scores and that kind of spurred the pels to a bit of a an offensive run there the diving on the loose ball you know for the loose ball on the court just there’s certain things

And then you listen to CJ after Saturday say that in that Clipper game Zion went up to him and said hey I need to see Portland CJ I need you to be aggressive I need you to do those things you go back to the beginning of

The year and he talked about it on Saturday he was asked about it remember beginning of the Season he said I’m taking a step back I’m not there yet I wasn’t ready that right and then on Saturday he said hey I’m physically starting to feel a bit better and and

I’m ready to kind of do that again that here we go ready what am I doing right there patting yourself on the back yes if the graph was here he’d be rolling his eyes because I love to do that remember we said at the beginning of the

Basketball season if Zion can get back to the shape he was before the end of that calendar year and I said March April around the the push for the playoff the Pelican team could be a dangerous one because he was playing at an MVP level if he could play at an MVP

Level with what I thought would be a deeper team and a team that’s played together you don’t have a lot of new pieces so everyone kind of knows each other they stayed healthy you’d play a lot of games together you’re starting to see them close games cuz they kind of

Know what to do and where to go everyone has their roles they’re buying in on defense like the these are definitions to this could be a team that’s peing at the right time yeah I think you’re right it feels in some ways like it’s all coming together right now I mean the

Fact that he’s playing the way he is and that he’s at his Peak I think or he’s the best that he’s looked all season I mean one of the things that I looked up since Fe February 7th which was the most recent time that the Pelicans had a big

Win against the Clippers that one was in crypto.com Arena Pelicans are 12 and five over that span the Clippers are eight and 10 so they’ve gained four and a half games on La during that span which is you know obviously about a month and a half which is and there was

Also an all a long All-Star break in between there so it’s not that long of a of a period of time that you went from five and a half games behind them to one behind them and like you said Zion is a huge reason for that I mean he’s to me

He’s kind of showing a lot of what we thought when he was picked number one five years ago and what people expected from him so I mean it’s great too just from a from a personal standpoint to just see him enjoying himself the way he is after he’s gone through a lot of

Stuff and people talking about him and saying um horrible things and ridiculous things about him so for him to get rewarded and for fans to be able to see this it’s it’s been a lot of fun just to to to watch him every single night you

Know another thing too that I wanted to point out about his season he’s played in 56 of the 67 games and of the 11 games that he missed five of them were back-to-backs that were basically planned in advance like at the beginning of the Season he wasn’t going to play in

Back Tob backs until he got to a certain point physically he also still has not missed consecutive games all season so I mean we’ve seen that if he’s also played 14 in a row right now we’ve seen that that’s really all it takes he he just

Needed to get back to being closer to 100% physically and now we see the results on the court those are outstanding statistics and I’m going to steal all of those from my talk thank you so much for that it’ll make it seem like no I will give you

Credit I will say J Mike offer brought this up but to the point that’s the thing final thing on this and it we’ll get to uh the player of the week that to we need to keep an eye on Brooklyn is there anyone that can match him right

Now tonight’s game no I mean match definitely not positionally but I mean cam Thomas is a guy that’s been really red hot for them lately um he’s averaging over 26 points in the last five games that he’s played um Mel Bridges is a guy that you always have to

Worry about with them as well um he’s been he he he struggled in the game against New Orleans I mean the first time the Pelicans played them they beat them one 112 to 85 and Brooklyn’s um shooting splits were 36% from the field 26% from three-point line and they were

Only four for eight on free throws so I mean that’s an area if the Pelicans even come close to that kind of defensive performance against them I I would think that they’ll have a really good chance to win but I think those are probably the two guys that you have to worry

About the most and just on the injury front Dorian finny SMI Smith when you talk about who can match up with Zion at least defensively he’s questionable with a I think it’s an ankle injury so he might not play he’s really Brooklyn’s probably top Defender maybe besides

Bridges he’s a guy that they rely on to try to shut people down so we’ll have to see whether he’s going to play or not he I know people are familiar with him from when he played for Dallas but he was part of that Kyrie Irving trade to the

Nets 21 Road games for this team it’s second best in the West western conference let’s see what happens there all right Jim Tom for our final segment here and that is the player to keep an eye on yeah well first I’ll go with the player of the week poll and yes

Is that’s an expert analysis guest right there Gus that’s why you make the big dough well that’s what it is his Zion averaged 31 points a game last week he got 78% of the votes you know I actually thought about just making the poll question what was the best part of what

Zion Williamson did last week because I knew he was going to win it whether it was the points or the rebounding or you know some of the other stuff that he did um wanted to mention to Herb Jones averaged two blocks 1.5 steals he got

12% of the votes Trey Murphy had a 4939 100 split which I’m sure Mama Murphy would be very pleased to know that he did not miss a free throw last week while the Pelicans went two and one they beat the Clippers Portland they lost to Cleveland um in terms of the player to

Watch this week I’m going with Trey Murphy over these four games because um in the five game Road games that the Pelicans have played since the All-Star break he shot 49% on threes in those Road games I mean he’s been a guy that has been very explosive I I remember

It’s interesting just a random note last season he was a lot better at home than he was on the road and this season it’s completely flipped that he’s been shot so much better on the road I can’t really explain that but you know he’s a

Guy to watch this week just based on the fact that there’s been so many road games lately where at the end of the night the Pelicans won and he was a huge reason why they won that game um but quickly too I wanted to note that in

Addition to him shooting 49% from three in Road games since the All-Star break on very high volume Nai in the the same collection of games the five Road games since the break na shooting 58% herb shooting 55% Jose 40% CJ 39 bi 38% so you got a bunch of guys that have been

All just knocking down shots in these these Road games against Eastern Conference teams and hopefully that’ll continue this week against a bunch of Eastern Conference teams yeah Zion brought that up that he says the reason they play so well on the road it’s their personalities and their mentality and

They they kind of enjoy doing that so let’s see what happens Brooklyn the the nice lights there the Big Apple hopefully you’ll get another win we’ll see you tomorrow and talk about hopefully win number 42 of your New Orleans pel that’s Jim ien Hoffer give a follow over on next jimiken Hoffer I’m

Go Cale thank you so much for tuning Us in say bye Jam bye guys and we’ll see you tomorrow in the New Orleans Pelicans podcast thanks for listening to the New Orleans Pelicans podcast join us three times per week on pelicans.com the Pelicans mobile app the iHeart Radio App

Or where you get your podcast and be sure to give Jim and Gus a follow on X at Jim iin offer and gcat un17 we’ll see you next time right here on the New Orleans Pelicans podcast

On the latest New Orleans Pelicans Podcast from Tuesday, March 19, 2024, Jim Eichenhofer and Gus Kattengell recap the Pelicans’ pair of big wins to wrap up the homestand and discuss the state of the Pels ahead of the looming NBA Playoffs. Later they’ll preview the start of the Pelicans’ four-game road trip with tonight’s game against the Brooklyn Nets.
00:00 – Introduction to the Pelicans Podcast – A warm welcome to the official New Orleans Pelicans podcast, offering comprehensive coverage on team news and insights.
00:34 – Recent Game Recaps and Highlights – Overview of the Pelicans’ recent victories with highlights from the games, including commentary on significant plays and player contributions.
01:25 – Coach Willie Green and Zion Williamson’s Reflections – Insights from Coach Willie Green and Zion Williamson on the team’s performance and individual contributions to recent wins.
02:11 – Analysis of Back-to-Back Wins Against Tough Competitors – Discussion on the Pelicans’ strategy and resilience in securing back-to-back wins, including a detailed look at their defensive and offensive plays.
04:37 – Jim Eichenhofer’s Take on the Pelicans’ Performance – An expert analysis from Jim Eichenhofer on the Pelicans’ recent games and the team’s trajectory as they face a series of road games.
07:59 – Growth and Potential of the Pelicans This Season – An in-depth discussion on the Pelicans’ growth throughout the season, highlighting Zion Williamson’s impact and the team’s potential moving forward.
10:33 – Zion Williamson’s Dominant Performance and Leadership – Focus on Zion Williamson’s recent outstanding performances, leadership on the court, and his emotional and physical readiness for the season’s challenges.
15:12 – Pelicans vs. Brooklyn Nets Preview – A preview of the upcoming game against the Brooklyn Nets, discussing key matchups, player injuries, and strategies for the Pelicans to secure a win.
16:31 – Player of the Week and Player to Watch – Announcement of Zion Williamson as the player of the week, with a spotlight on Trey Murphy as the player to watch in upcoming games, supported by statistical analysis of their performances.

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Latest NBA News & Pelicans News @ https://www.pelicans.com

New Orleans Pelicans Roster
———————————————–
Jose Alvarado #15 Guard
Dyson Daniels #11 Guard
Kaiser Gates #12 Forward
Jordan Hawkins #24 Guard
Brandon Ingram #14 Forward
Herbert Jones #5 Forward
Kira Lewis Jr. #13 Guard
E.J. Liddell #32 Forward
Naji Marshall #8 Forward
CJ McCollum #3 Guard
Trey Murphy III #25 Guard
Larry Nance Jr. #22 Forward/Center
Matt Ryan #37 Forward
Dereon Seabron #0 Guard
Jonas Valanciunas #17 Center
Zion Williamson #1 Forward
Cody Zeller #44 Forward/Center

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