November 2nd - New Orleans Pelicans vs Detroit Pistons - 3-1
Back to Back #PelicansGameDay
— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) November 2, 2023
: vs Detroit
: 7 pm CT
: @ballysportsnola
: @995wrno#Pelicans | @SmoothieKing pic.twitter.com/LOV9pao29n
After the worst start to a basketball game I have seen in a long time, the Pelicans - led by one of CJ's best games in a New Orleans Uniform - managed to come back last game and win.
The result, however, is that we're now playing the second game of a back to back, after traveling back to New Orleans on the same day, in a state of recovery from that huge drama yesterday. B2B games are hard enough as it is, this one shows no signs of being easier.
Today we play the Detroit Pistons. The Pistons are only 2-3 at this point of the season, but one of their losses was razor close; at this stage of the season, records aren't necessarily reflective of much as a single shot here or there is enough to sway things. The Pistons are a worse defense than us, but only slightly (we're 8th, they're 11th) but, up to this point, a considerably better offense (we're 29th, they're 17th).
Some of this, again, is early season sample sizes: we have a number of guys who have started the year with rough shooting games, and one of our most efficient scorers from everywhere (Trey) is out. Nevertheless, we can't afford to let expectations and reputations carry the game, or we'll get upset. Losing game 2 of a B2B is not the end of the world, but if we can pick up the win here that puts us at 4-1 even with the injuries and prepares us for the upcoming stretch where we face Denver and Dallas twice each in the next two weeks.
Guys to watch for from the Pistons include Jalen Duren, who thus far is averaging 15/13/3 on 68% shooting and doing an awful lot of primary ball handling in certain contexts, Cade Cunningham who has returned from a major injury and started the year averaging 23/3/7 on 44% from 3, and Ausar Thompson who is averaging 10/10/3 and playing stunningly good defense.
Give Cade the Herb treatment, force Duren to be a creator whenever the ball is in his hands, and please - for the love of God, Green - we are playing a team that has Marvin Bagley playing C minutes and uses 6'8 Isaiah Stewart as a C; go 3 or 4 out, play inside out, shoot a lot of threes from the corners, play through Zion and JV in the middle, and don't try to run any of those shooter-less Dyson/Herb/Nance lineups.