Can New Orleans Pelicans Reach 50 Wins? | Jose Alvarado Injury Update | Zion Williamson, CJ McCollum

Can New Orleans Pelicans Reach 50 Wins? | Jose Alvarado Injury Update | Zion Williamson, CJ McCollum

Uh I like where we are just overall whether it’s home or road I think this team is balanced um you know look we we like to win more home games but right now we’re focusing on a positive and um the positive for us is that we put

Ourselves in a position uh with our wins to set history and and that’s the focus and we got another couple games here that we really want to take care of home court like you said is it’s important for us Willie Green after the pels drop a 119 112 decision to Oklahoma City at

The Smoothie Kings Center on Tuesday night that was the first of a six-game home stand for the pels you heard Willie Green there say they’d like to win more home games this is a team that’s 44 and 28 overall in the year they’re’s 20 and

14 at home so yes of course you’d like to win more home games and I I don’t know necessarily that it’s going to matter tremendously because I don’t know that the the pels are going to find themselves in any tiebreak scenario against OKC but with that win Oklahoma

City did win the season series against um against the pels uh 2 to pels took the first one and then Thunder took the last two our buddy Jake Madison from lock on Pelicans good enough to join us for a couple of minutes here of course

On Twitter at Nola Jake hey man how are you I’m doing well thanks for having me on Matt man it’s always our pleasure we appreciate some time so um more concerning getting down 20 or more encouraged rallying the way they did in the second half you know honestly I

Think it’s more encouraging the way they rallied in the second half I thought they they kind of locked their composure a little bit in the first half with some of the calls going against them you saw Zion Williamson ibly frustrated and in the past this team would just kind of

Give up right you’re playing one of the top teams in the west year who’s been up at the top of the standings all season long it’s it’s pretty easy to just chalk it up and say it’s not your kind of night they would have done that I think

Earlier on in the season but to come out and then play the way they did from about the middle of the third quarter to about the middle or towards the end of the fourth quarter they went on something like a 42 to 19 run against the Oklahoma City Thunder a team that

You just don’t usually do that against so get back into the game and really give themselves a chance to win I think going into the postseason shows that this team still has some flaws and things they need to figure out particularly the final five minutes of

That game but it means they’re at least a playoff competitive team I think and I think that’s a good sign for a team that we don’t expect to win the title this year and still has some room to grow and if you really want to take a glassouse

Full approach when you look at this look it’s maybe better that they’re not reaching their full potential yet I know that sounds a little crazy here but it just means they have room to go grow and can get better and you compare them to a team like the Sacramento Kings who feels

Like they’re topping out at the six feed while reaching their full potential they don’t have another gear to get to I’d rather take the Pelican situation in that sort of thing Jake I do want to talk the the situation as a whole in some big picture stuff but one more on

The game itself last night um the pels went up 112 107 with 311 to go and then they didn’t score again um they missed their final five shots what did you see in in those final two to three minutes uh that went poorly like what stood out for you from for for New

Orleans oh boy right there were a couple of things with that you know I think the first one is z lton took one shot one shot you know I think in the entirety of the fourth quarter he took three but in the final three minutes of the game he

Took one shot that’s not okay right like to me that’s a team that wasn’t ready for that moment isn’t well coached in those final five minutes final three minutes of the game which is you know technically crunch time clutch time in the NBA they need to figure that out

There’s a reason this team is now 0 and 17 when trailing going into the fourth quarter and Willie Green the head coach after the game talked about well we’ll use this as a learning experience are you sure because you didn’t learn it the 16 other times that it happened to be

Able to get this win and I think that’s kind of a concern right DJ McCullum I think was two of eight in the fourth quarter Zion L was one of three Larry NS Jor took more shots than Zion leamon did in the fourth quarter You’ just got to

Find a way to get him shot attempts there were a couple of possessions where he doesn’t touch the ball if you’re not getting your best player a guy who’s going to be in the running for all NBA at the end of the season more shot attempts or even a touch you’re doing

Something wrong and that needs to change otherwise you’re not going to win these close games yeah uh pels uh beginning a six game home stand they got Milwaukee on Thursday uh make sure you’re subscribed up to lockon Pelicans over get your podcast or on YouTube YouTube

He’s on Twitter Nola Jake um do you have any information at all on Jose’s injury it was for those that didn’t see it it was so we it almost looked like he got dead legged you know I mean he was trying to walk it off and then he just kind of

Dropped yeah he’s listed officially as questionable for tomorrow’s game against the Milwaukee Bucks that was a really physical game for him for the way the pelons like to play defense where they switch every sort of pick and roll you you saw him matched up with Chad hren a

Number of times in the height disparity between the two is like striking and Jose Alvarado was also trying to box him out a lot by just throwing his body into the guy to see if he could just move him a little bit to Jose’s credit he did a

Little bit of that I don’t think this is anything longterm that’s going to be a big deal I think it was just a very physical game and he’s a little bit sore and banged up from it but I expect he’ll play uh tomorrow night that dude’s tough

What was your uh what were your impressions watching the team at home without without bi what what stood out as far as rotations who stood up shot at where what what was the standout that was obvious to you yeah they miss him right I think you saw that particularly

In the first half of the game and then in those final five minutes I know you know there have been people who are maybe excited to see what this team can do without Brandon Ingram there’s still a little bit of an open question though I think that’s been answered somewhat of

Can he and Zion Williamson coexist and they wanted to see what this team could do without him they missed his shot creation right when you looked at this team at the end of the game it looked like they needed a point guard well that’s what Brandon Ingram plays for

This team particularly over the past month or so where he’s been more of a playmaker than a scorer for this team and they needed someone who could get them organized who could help them manufacture looks for Zion Williamson in the fourth quarter you know I think when

You see Trey Murphy stepping in for him and you could say that these six games this home stand in the rest of the regular season you know as long as Brandon Ingram’s out is really big for Trey Murphy if he was able to fill those whole that those big shoes admirably

Well you maybe look at moving on from Brandon Ingram this offseason because you have a cheaper replacement In Trey Murphy there but his defense hasn’t been up the par Brandon ingrams has been excellent uh so far this season it shows they still miss him they still need him

And if they want to make true noise in the postseason they’re going to need him Trey’s stepping up and making his three-point shot attempts that’s a really good thing but he’s not the playmaker that Brandon Ingram is and so when they have some of these stretches where the offense gets really stagnant

Where the ball’s not moving that’s where a guy like Brandon England would truly help them right now uh coule more for you maybe a thumbnail on uh on Thursday night’s game against the Bucks coming to the Smoothie Kings Center what would you say are the the keys and things to watch on

Thursday you know look it’s Yannis right this is a team that just gives New Orleans a lot of trouble they struggle against some of these very physical teams teams with a lot of length here too and so it’s going to come down to Yannis and you know you’ll see him guard

Zion Williamson a lot I’m going to wonder if maybe you’ll see them use Jonas valunas more than they did in this game against the Oklahoma City Thunder where he didn’t play at all in the second half and I don’t think that was the wrong decision per se but against a

Team with more height and a little bit more physical I think you’re going to need that kind of body out there to try and draw double teams open things up like they did in the win over the Miami e it’s also going to come down to can you contain Damien Lillard and New

Orleans has a very good history of doing that too so you throw her Jones on there kind of take Lillard out of this game and make them a little bit more onedimensional I think new Orland has a chance but it’s still a tough tough ask

To get the win Jake 10 games to go uh here in the regular season and the pels the lost they man they were they were briefly there in that four spot um but they Dro a half game behind the Clippers all right 10 games to go with what they

Have remaining on the schedule with what you’re looking at G give me what you think is a realistic best case it’s it’s tough to say the schedule is kind of brutal you have maybe two gimmies on this with a game against Portland and even the San Antonio Spurs

But Victor w is there he’s going to be the running for defensive player of the year I think you’re looking for them to go 500 you know it was nice to have the fourth seat for the for all of 24 hours about in here in New Orleans you know H

Hang a banner for that one right there and now you’re kind of worried could they fall into the playing tournament you know and I think the goal right now is finish with the five or worst case the six seed home court advantage would be nice certainly don’t get me wrong but

I think this team matches up well with the Los Angeles Clippers no matter what so four five if that’s the that’s the matchup it doesn’t truly matter in my opinion it’s avoid the play in tournament where fluky things can really happen that’s the goal I think if you

Play about 500 that’s going to be what gets you there the rest of the way so if you can play about 500 ball five and five over these these next 10 which is still a bit of a tough ass you’re going to be in a good spot going into the

Postseason he is Jake Madison uh locked on Pelicans make sure you’re subscribed up on your favorite podcast app or on YouTube make sure you follow them on Twitter as well @ Nola J hey man we always appreciate a couple of minutes thanks for making the time course thanks

For having me on hey thanks so much for watching please leave your comments I love to interact and be sure to hit the red subscribe button Below [Applause] you with you and tell

Jake Madison of Locked On Pelicans Podcast joins AFR to recap the Pelicans loss to the Thunder and look ahead to the matchup against the Bucks. What were some good takeaways from the loss to Oklahoma City? How do the Pelicans replace Brandon Ingram? We also discuss playoff scenarios for New Orleans.

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