Homecourt advantage matters for the New Orleans Pelicans but not for the reason you think

Homecourt advantage matters for the New Orleans Pelicans but not for the reason you think

The Pelicans are in a fight for the fourth seed in home court advantage in the first round but do they actually need it I’ll tell you if hosting a game seven is actually important or not all that and more in a Tuesday episode of Locked on Pelicans let’s Go you are locked on Pelicans your daily New Orleans Pelicans podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day welcome to another edition of lock on Pelicans the daily podcast covering your favorite team the New Orleans Pelicans at NBA part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day

Available wherever you get your podcast and available on YouTube I’m your host Pelicans Insider credential member of the media Jake Madison at Nola Jake on Twitter here with youall on this Tuesday a game day for the New Orleans Pelicans they have a tough test at home over

These next couple of games we’ll talk about that coming up in the second segment of today’s show I want to talk about herb Jones in the third as well but I want to start with homec court advantage and do the Pelicans actually need it how much of an advantage truly

Is there in the NBA I’ve got some stuff for you on all of this but of course thank you for making lockdown Pelicans your first listen today and every day we are here Monday through Friday the number one Pelicans podcast breaking down everything you want to know about

This Pelicans team in the stretch run of the the season we’re going to have a ton of stuff for you some bonus things especially this week so make sure you subscribe wherever you get your podcast and join almost 10,000 Pelicans fans on YouTube as well where we do often live

Shows maybe we’ll do one of those this weekend as well today’s episode of Locked on Pelicans is brought to you by prize piic the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports go to prize pics.com lockon NBA and use code all lowercase locked on NBA for a first

Deposit match up to 100 $ so let’s get into oh become an every dayer listen Monday through Friday to lock on Pelicans if you don’t already I put out a call for questions a lot of y’all responded it was great we’re kind of building the show out around some of

Those right now some of you said things we’ve already covered make sure you’re listening Monday through Friday you won’t miss a thing with this team I’ve got you covered I promise so let’s start with homec court advantage do the Pelicans truly need this how important

Is it in the modern NBA look home court matters some absolutely but I don’t think it’s necessarily the most important thing in terms of success in the playoffs especially in a series a one game playing setting things are different but in a seven game series The most important thing to me is matchup

Matchups how you well you kind of crossmatch with the opponent your strengths versus their strengths your strengths versus their disadvantages things like that matchup matters I think more than anything look at the Miami Heat in the NBA finals this past year they didn’t win a game at home against

Denver right it was just a bad matchup for them yic was playing Just other world league basketball he still is and there’s just nothing they could do even being at home in Miami wasn’t going to do anything right look at the Pelicans a couple of years ago against Portland

They were the six seed Portland was the three seed they swept them while starting on the road so when we’re looking at them in a series against the Los Angeles Clippers and look that’s likely who they’re going to end up playing in the first round by the time

I’m recording this the Clippers play this evening on on Monday night but I’m recording this before that game the Pelicans being just a half game back if the Clippers lose to the Pacers the Pelicans could be in sole possession or tied for fourth but they have the tiebreaker over the Clippers so they

Could be having homec court advantage when I’m done recording this sort of thing right now as they sit only a half game back of the Clippers here but the Pelicans went on the road won those first two games then finished it off at home in the next two against the

Portland Trailblazers because Yousef nurkic in that matchup was just like at a huge disadvantage against Anthony Davis you also had Drew holiday who was a great matchup against Damen Lillard and completely limited him in that Series right so when you’re looking at a a series against the Clippers again who

They’re likely going to play in the first round most important thing is how they match up against that Clippers team and I think New Orleans matches up well not perfectly but they do match up well especially because of the center position something that I’m I’ve previously talked about if you’re and

Every day you know that I think zubach is is a huge disadvantage for the Clippers in this series potential Series against the New Orleans Pelicans so that’s the most important thing to me is the matchups here and how you can leverage those to win a playoff series

More so than who’s playing at home pelicans have a winning record on the road more on that in a minute here but let’s not pretend that homec court advantage doesn’t matter at all Studies have shown that home court advantage does exist even if it’s minor teams in

The playoffs tend to score more points at home than they do on the road now when you look at this a little bit the the better team is the higher seed playing a worse team than them so if it does go seven games the better team has

Homec court likely going to win that one because they’re they’re a better team in theory so this is somewhat skewed right but there’s also things like more calls go your way that referees are in fact at least subconsciously and not to an extreme degree influenced by the crowd

Ever so slightly but there’s also things like being slightly better rested sleeping in your own bed versus sleeping in a hotel room I think can go a long way with those sorts of things and if you come out and win those two home games you really put the opponent on the

Back foot now they’re down to and the pressure is on them and you’re kind of playing with house money a little bit at this point in time plus and maybe this is the most important thing there’s a placebo effect on the players right if players think homec court advantage

Matters if they think that they play better at home they’re going to play better at home right it’s kind of the power of belief and those sorts of things here right it’s a placebo effect but if it makes them play better there’s something to that so if the players think homecourt Advantage matters

They’re likely going to play better at home that means you’re more likely to win or have a better game this stuff then does matter but here’s the secret when it comes to the Pelicans they’re a good road team this team is 24 and 14 10 games above 500 on the road they shoot

Better on the road then at home if you look at their splits and I don’t have them up in front of me that’s a significant thing so if you can be slightly better at home but still maintain a lot of what you do on the road well and maybe it goes down in

There because we’re talking about home court advantage so maybe it’s not as much of a thing for the Pelicans but if it can then just neutralize homec court advantage for the opponent that seems to be pretty big to me and so I think that can put the Pelicans in a really good

Spot when it comes to what the playoff series so whether they’re the four seed the five seed anything like like that like I’m less worried about them in that sort of standing than I they would be otherwise let me pull the numbers here they shoot

36.9% from three at home 39% on the road so about a 2% increase right like that’s a very good number right there that’s one of the more important things they get about the same number they get a slight bit more of free throw attempts at home

Than on the road rebounds are a little bit better on the road to the point where it’s probably not statistically relevant the big thing is the shooting percentage there but they get more about a steal more per game about a block more per game they turn the ball over

Slightly less those things could come into play so yeah homecourt Advantage matters but I don’t think it’s as big of a Difference Maker for this Pelicans team as maybe it would be otherwise given the level of Road play that they have let me know what you think in the

Comments down below is it a big deal if they’re the fourth seed versus the fifth seed look I’d like them to be the fourth seed certainly that’s only a good thing right let me know what you think in the comments down below coming up tough upcoming schedule for the Pelicans

What’s considered a success over the next five six games when you look at the upcoming schedule we’ll talk about that we’ll break it down and kind of give this team some benchmarks and what it says about the playoffs depending on how they do that’s coming up here next in

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Picks pick more pick less it’s that easy and thank you for making lockdown Pelicans your first listen today and every day we’re here Monday through Friday the number one Pelicans podcast covering everything you want to know whether it’s the the statistics whether it’s looking at matchups whether it’s

Trade rumors everything we cover it all here be coming every day or listen Monday through Friday subscribe wherever you get your podcast join almost 10,000 Pelicans fans on YouTube as well as we gear up for the playoffs because the Pelicans are going to be in that mix maybe having homec court advantage maybe

Even a little bit higher could they get the three seat we’ll probably look at all of that unlocked on Pelicans part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day by the way are you watching Fox Sports or or ESPN on your TV all day

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24/7 on YouTube or the free Amazon Fire TV channels app part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day so the upcoming schedule for the Pelicans starting tonight with a game against the Oklahoma City Thunder is tough It’s the thunder it’s the bucks then Boston right

Then they’ve got Phoenix who are winning when I’m recording this then Orlando who just beat New Orleans and then they wrap up this six-game home stand against the San Antonio Spurs and while the Spurs are bad the Spurs are a very bad team Victor wanyama is like playing otherworldly basketball and looks

Extremely good and who knows what that could mean right length tends to sometimes be a problem size tends to somewhat be a problem for the Pelicans wanyama against Zion Leon potentially could be a problem and they’re not going to have Brandon Ingram during this stretch so we’ve got to keep that in

Mind right we’ve got to keep in mind that they don’t have Brandon Ingram so there’s only so much you can read into this so it’s a tough upcoming schedule and I do think though it could kind of tell us who the pels really are and what

They can do in the playoffs with the the tricks of being like okay we have no brand Ingram to kind of Judge that off of but for the most part five of these six games and it’s the first five so we can really look at the just next five

Games are really good teams Oklahoma City has been at the top of the standings in the West for the entirety of the league Milwaukee is number two despite a lot of turnover and Giannis is just Giannis right the Boston Celtics have already clinched the number one seed in the East before literally any

Other team has clinched even a regular like playoff spot that’s how dominant they’ve been in the regular season Phoenix has been up and down certainly but they’re s and3 going into Tuesday going into Monday in their past 10 games and they’re beating the San Antonio Spurs when I’m recording this not by

Much though tells you about the Spurs a little bit doesn’t it so these are good teams we’ve seen them struggle against some of the top teams they also have a good record for the most part against top teams too but now everyone’s kind of peing and should be playing their best

Basketball so it’s time for the Pelicans to kind of show us who they are if we’re looking at six games here and let’s count the Spurs game as a win so let’s remove it let’s just look at five games right three and two I think is considered a massive success given no

Brandon Ingram here and look as I said in yesterday’s show this team is not better without Brandon Ingram like at all they might win some games they might play well but they are not a better overall Team without Brandon Ingram in the lineup for New Orleans

Let’s keep that in mind so 3 and2 going essentially if you count a win over the Spurs 4-2 over the six game home stand that’s a massive success here three and three I think would still be good so here now you’re looking at going two and three against these five best teams a

Lot of people are then going to say the Pelicans can’t do it against top teams that might be the case they’re still going to get into the postseason and be a tough out but if they don’t do particularly well here yeah it probably should temper a little bit of our

Expectations for the postseason thinking they can make Conference Finals or the NBA Finals as I’ve said this season I don’t see them doing that even when they’re fully healthy right now doesn’t mean they won’t be competitive and a lot of it depends on matchup like we just

Talked about in the last segment here but with Zion Williamson brain and Ingram they can take you far here with CJ being a very good third wheel Trey Murphy emerging herb Jones being herb Jones and more on herb Jones in a moment here this team can still do some damage

And I don’t think even losing in the first round is necessarily one of those things where we look at it and call it a disappointment but if this team somehow goes four- two five- one I’m not even going to say Five-0 during these F you know against these five teams here but

If you can go four- one you’re looking at that and going oh okay you know you’ve got to look at the season as a whole but you also do need to segment it out a little bit so the pelan record against top teams earlier on in the year

Doesn’t matter nearly as as much as how they’re playing now they blew a lot of double digit leads earlier on in the year they haven’t been doing that so this isn’t the same team right just as you’re not the same person you were five 10 years ago right you grow and you

Change as a human the team can grow and change as the course of the season goes on I have long said that expectations need to be something that fluctuates and adjust with what is in front of you it might start out real high and then there’s an injury so you need to change

Them or you might start them out low than the team plays better and you raise those expectations up it’s not a static Mark so looking at it this I think is going to give us our Benchmark for the playoffs the team can still be competitive in all of this without

Brandon Ingram they’re not better though so three and two is a really good sign that this team is really truly ready for the postseason and what that entails here less than that maybe it means we need to dial them back but again you don’t have brand and Ingram so it’s

Tough to truly make sense of it and that’s why we need to maybe wait and watch some of these games before we figure out exactly what to try and take away from it right we’re trying to prognosticate here that’s always not the easiest thing to do and one of the

Things that I’ve learned doing this for 10 plus years and doing almost 2,000 episodes of this show is what’s happened in the past is not necessarily A predictor of the future whatsoever when it comes to things so we’re going to watch these games with a lot of interest

Here to see how the Pelicans can match up are the Oklahoma City Thunder a good or a bad matchup for New Orleans here right that’s a team they could play in the second round of the playoffs what about the Phoenix Suns depending on what Phoenix does that’s a a future playoff

Opponent potentially as well do they match up well do they not right it’s been hit or miss with some of that it’s been hit or miss with the Oklahoma City Thunder as well for New Orleans so this stretch I’m glad they’re at home and you’ve got a day of rest in between

There’s no backto backs or anything like that but this is I don’t want to say the make or break part of the season for the Pelicans cuz it’s not after this they have a tough is 4 game Road Trip before finishing off at home against the Lakers

And I said at the beginning of the year especially if you’re in every day final 15 games or so for the Pelicans are kind of brutal let’s see what they’re made of I’m excited for this sort of thing these games really matter and it’s a good litmus test minus Brandon Ingram being

Out for new Orleans and what head coach Willie Green is capable of concocting and as we talked about in yesterday’s show I think he’s done a really good job coaching recently and getting those two wins without bran and Ingram even if one was against the you know lowly pitiful

Detroit Pistons that win over Miami was good that win over Miami was very very good especially after what Jimmy Butler said and seeing this team in the right head space and making these right type of adjustments particularly in game I’d liked to see so I’m going to be really

Curious to see what this team does and I’m excited about it and I hope you are as well and look we’re going to be talking about it here on lockon Pelicans making sense of what we see and seen what that means going forward for this team one thing we know going forward

Herb Jones needs to be on the all defensive first team as simple as that and the Pelicans have started the campaign uh so that’s all coming up here more herb Jones coming up here next in today’s episode of Locked on Pelicans today’s episode of Locked on Pelicans is

Brought to you by better help sometimes we all need the opportunity to get something off our chest big or small certain things can really start to get to you and it’s important to let that out especially to someone who’s unbiased in your life those things can really

Linger you can dwell on them they can turn into bigger things you don’t want that happening when you have some of those feelings they’re like a like a check engine light right meaning something something’s wrong and you better get it checked out before your engine explodes here so today I want to

Say how I really feel about something you might even be thinking about the same thing this week and we’re going to talk about it in the next segment here and if herb Jones is going to be on the all defensive first team he needs to get some love some credit for Defensive

Player of the Year too particularly with how good this Pelicans defense has been and it’s really led by the engine that is Herb Jones on the defensive side of the ball I’ll think I think he’ll make all defensive first team I’ll give you a spoiler alert for the next segment I

Don’t think he’s going to get much love he’ll get some votes for defensive player of the year and I think that’s wrong and it’s going to annoy me and we’ll talk about it here on lock on Pelicans so therapy can be different for everyone most of us have bigger problems

Than our favorite sports team and it’s important to get things off your chest every once in a while so if you’re thinking of starting therapy give betterhelp a try it’s entirely online designed to be flexible and suited to your schedule visit betterhelp.com lockon MBA to get 10% off your first month that’s betterhelp

Hp.com lockon NBA to get started and thank you for making lockdown Pelicans your first listen today and every day we’re here Monday through Friday the number one Pelicans podcast breaking down everything you want to know subscribe wherever you get your podcast and on YouTube as well join

Almost 10,000 of you on YouTube we are part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day and don’t forget about the 247 streaming Channel on YouTube locked on sports today streaming 24/7 covering the top sports stories of of the day with the local Experts of

Locked on find locked on supports today now available on the free Fire TV channels app there’s an app that’s awesome all right let’s talk herb Jones here because you know who’s talking about herb Jones literally everybody because he was trending on Twitter yesterday how awesome is that seeing him

Out there really just kind of being a name that people care about that’s really exciting to see we love when the Homegrown Talent here and he’s homegrown here in New Orleans as an NBA player gets the love and shine and deserves right because you know what herb Jones

Is Never GNA promote himself for this sort of thing so other people Antonio Daniels on the broadcast constantly says it we talk about it here oh you’re you’re probably saying this yourself will do it for him and that’s he should be on the all defensive first team

Without a doubt without a doubt the Pelicans are really promoting him too and I think that’s why he was trending this was clearly a good move by their social media team by just everyone involved with this decision great job overall I loved it I went to the website

You can look at it yourself they lay out a fantastic case for herb Jones we can get into the numbers go to the website that they put out there and look at it it’s real as simple as that right but one thing that I think is most important

Here and it helps that the Pelicans are good is dude passes the eye test right you just watch him lock guys down he has a number of highlights that are pretty insane the most recent one being the block on that Paul George three-point attempt Paul George was like what the

Heck right the quotes from NBA players being like that dude is a menace he held and this is I think the biggest thing right that respect from your peers I think is really important and they give him tons of respect because they better because they have bad games against him Tyrese halberton

Did nothing with herb Jones on him Tyrese halberton was going to be in the running for most improved player I think he’s looked that good like breakout player this season Tyrese Maxi didn’t do anything against herb Jones Paul George had his lunch taken from herb Jones there herb is also shut down kawhai

Leonard he held Luca donic to what might be Luca’s worst game ever in the NBA and Luca is one of the three people in my opinion in the running for the MVP conversation he’s been that good that good and this Pelicans defense is good too right they have the fifth best

Defense when I’m recording the show right now herb Jones is the engine from that and when you watch him play it just jumps off the screen at you you see what he’s doing and more people have been paying attention to the Pelicans recently because they’re winning games

Winie puts more eyes on you and that’s going to help you get votes for the all defensive team it’s a not a crime that he hasn’t made it the past two years it would be a crime if he doesn’t make it this year and not even second team first

Team right that’s kind of the big thing here but the Pelicans are winning people are really paying attention to him now you can’t ignore him and kind of the word is out and I love that the Pelicans are promoting him with the website with the logo that’s just purely a lock

That’s awesome everything about this I think is really cool promote your guys have your players backs and this team definitely does that that’s something that other players will take note of not just on this team but around the league as a whole and I think it’s a really

Good look for the franchise to be doing that so without a doubt he should be on the all defensive first team I don’t think he’s going to win defensive player of the year I just mentioned it when we were talking about better help I don’t think he’s going to win defensive player

Of the year I don’t even think he’s going to finish in the top two or three of Defensive Player of the Year it’s going to be like Rudy gobear and then it’ll probably go to Victor wanyama big men tend to not always but more often than not get that award for the rim

Protection the blocks things like that I would not be shocked if herb Jones gets a lot of third Place fourth place fifth place votes and comes in getting some of those numbers particularly because now this is like two three seasons that the pelan defense has been ranked highly to

At the very least and I think that’s important that it shows there’s some consistency there with things so I do find that to be a very important factor for what he is going to get with the postseason Awards I think when you’re looking at some of the postseason

Awards that’s going to be the guy that can really do it for New Orleans I think he’ll be on one of the all defensive teams should be first team should be first team and I think he’ll get some votes for Defensive Player of the Year too and maybe we’ll see a couple of

Other things here for players maybe Zion starts to get some love at the end of the regular season here but he’s in a herb is in a good spot and I love that people are promoting him to see him trending on Twitter definitely shows that this is going in the right

Direction awesome to see fantastic that’s exactly what we want great job by the Pelicans great job by you and everyone else for screaming in as well I think you’re going to see herb Jones collecting some honors at the end of the year do you think he should be in the

Running for defensive player of the year or is the all defensive first team or second team enough let me know in the comments Down Below on YouTube and that’s going to do it for this episode of Locked on Pelican part of the lockon podcast Network your team every day I

Appreciate you all so much for listening enjoy the game tonight in the Smoothie King Center I will be there maybe the Pelicans are going to be the forth seed we’ll find out it’s going to be a fun one good test for New Orleans and we’ll see what this team’s truly made of and

Of course we’ll be breaking it down in tomorrow’s episode of lock on Pelicans as always I’m your host Jake Madison at NOA Jake on Twitter and I’ll see you all tomorrow

The New Orleans Pelicans are in a battle with the Los Angeles Clippers for home court advantage in the first round of the NBA Playoffs. Jake Madison explains why home court is important for Zion Williamson and the Pels but not for the reason you think. Plus, the Pels have a tough test with the upcoming 6 game homestand, and, yes, Herb Jones needs to be on the All-Defensive First Team

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