Although they had started the season with four victories in five games, the Pelicans had a very poor time digesting CJ McCollum’s new pneumothorax, losing five consecutive games. It was therefore without their playmaker that the Brandon Ingram – Zion Williamson duo had to find their feet again. Not easy…
Weakened, the young Pels nevertheless took the bull by the horns by organizing a meeting between players, after the defeat against Dallas at home (136-124).
An identity to find and affirm
For almost an hour before training, the players put things back together. And find common, intangible and non-negotiable values: make the effort in defense, play the transition and share the ball.
“We already had to identify what we wanted. It was the most important”, says Larry Nance Jr. “We really need to know what we want to do, and reaffirm our identity by putting our values at the heart of the project. »
Since their meeting, the Pels have regained color by winning four of their last five meetings, including a tasty revenge against the Mavs (131-110), a prestigious victory against the Nuggets (115-110) and a real spanking against the Kings: +36 (129-93)! A success confirmed last night, even if it was more complicated.
“Collectively, we weren’t on the same wavelength before. Now it is”appreciates Zion Williamson. “We had a meeting to talk about what we want to do together. This is what we will live and die by. Since we’ve cleared things up, I think we’re much better off. »
A motor to be unleashed
At the heart of the problem was the production and understanding between Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram. Over their last three outings, the Pelicans have scored 45 points more than their opponent when both stars were on the boards! Compare to -26 when everything was going wrong…
An encouraging statistic as the two men took the time to work on their relationship on the pick & roll in training, in pairs, but also in threes with Herb Jones.
“We have clearly made a lot of progress recently”breathes Zion Williamson. “We both want the same thing, but we haven’t been able to spend a lot of time together on the pitch. The more we can play together, the better our cohesion will be. »
The two former Dukies have certainly not been able to play many minutes together due to the numerous injuries of both in recent years. But their tandem is clearly the engine of the franchise.
“They are the pulse of this team, of the franchise itself. And they know it. They both carry the weight of the franchise because they have this type of talent.”concludes Larry Nance Jr. “The message we gave them is that they must be worthy of this status. By being good every day. They don’t have to be vocal, we have guys who do it very well. They just have to do what they know how to do on the pitch, and we will follow. »
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| Brandon Ingram | 11 | 33.7 | 50.0 | 30.2 | 77.8 | 0.7 | 4.7 | 5.5 | 5.0 | 2.9 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 1.5 | 24.1 |
| Zion Williamson | 11 | 31.0 | 54.4 | 50.0 | 58.4 | 2.4 | 3.6 | 6.0 | 4.5 | 2.7 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 2.7 | 22.2 |
| Cj Mccollum | 6 | 34.3 | 44.0 | 38.0 | 74.2 | 0.8 | 4.0 | 4.8 | 5.7 | 1.3 | 1.5 | 0.8 | 2.3 | 21.7 |
| Jonas Valanciunas | 14 | 25.1 | 54.0 | 37.9 | 84.8 | 1.9 | 6.8 | 8.7 | 2.5 | 1.4 | 0.4 | 1.7 | 2.9 | 13.4 |
| Jordan Hawkins | 14 | 29.6 | 38.1 | 36.2 | 84.6 | 0.8 | 3.2 | 4.0 | 2.1 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 0.0 | 2.2 | 13.0 |
| Herb Jones | 11 | 31.0 | 51.8 | 35.3 | 88.2 | 0.6 | 3.6 | 4.3 | 2.9 | 1.2 | 2.0 | 1.6 | 3.7 | 11.6 |
| Naji Marshall | 5 | 20.6 | 54.5 | 47.1 | 90.9 | 0.8 | 3.0 | 3.8 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 1.6 | 10.8 |
| Matt Ryan | 13 | 22.9 | 45.8 | 47.1 | 92.9 | 0.4 | 1.9 | 2.3 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 1.8 | 9.3 |
| Dyson Daniels | 14 | 27.5 | 46.5 | 33.3 | 57.9 | 1.1 | 3.8 | 4.9 | 3.9 | 1.4 | 1.4 | 0.4 | 2.0 | 8.5 |
| Jeremiah Robinson earl | 7 | 14.0 | 52.0 | 54.5 | 100.0 | 1.1 | 2.0 | 3.1 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 1.3 | 5.4 |
| Jose Alvarado | 1 | 15.2 | 40.0 | 33.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 3.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 5.0 |
| Larry Nance, Jr. | 10 | 15.7 | 48.5 | 33.3 | 50.0 | 1.3 | 3.1 | 4.4 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 1.4 | 3.8 |
| Kira Lewis, Jr. | 11 | 11.0 | 32.6 | 13.3 | 88.9 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 1.6 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 3.5 |
| Dereon Seabron | 5 | 10.5 | 30.8 | 50.0 | 83.3 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 1.4 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 2.8 |
| Cody Zeller | 11 | 8.3 | 33.3 | 0.0 | 35.7 | 1.2 | 2.2 | 3.4 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 1.7 |
| Ej Liddell | 3 | 2.9 | 25.0 | 0.0 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 1.3 |
| Kaiser Gates | 1 | 7.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
