In this NBA season opener, the Pelicans lost to the defending champions 111-95.
Last year's MVP Stephan Curry absolutely KILLED us. He ended with 40 points and 7 assist. The man hit 5 threes on us. PROBLEM: We did not get up on him!!! Holiday and Cole who were out are probably our two best ON BALL defenders. This is where we were missing them. There was zero ball pressure while guarding him. Also, when Draymond Green came up for a high pick, the hedging was just bad. Whoever was guarding Steph at the time would not get through the screen properly, and the man guarding the screener, usually Davis, would not even get a hand out and Curry was wide open to do his cooking.
Oh , and lets talk about Anthony Davis. He finished with 18 points and only 6 rebounds. That may be good for an average PF, but not good enough for a superstar. Davis went 4 for 20 and 0 for 2 on threes. The shots he took were just not good in my opinion. He rushed and forced them. The shots he got were mostly of a pick and pop and I felt like he had time to square up and face the bucket, make a dead ball move and get to the rack. And when he did do that, he was fingerrolling or doing a floater. He did get to the line a lot like he usually does which was good, going 10 for 15. After a game, in an interview, Coach Gentry talked about Davis and said, "He's going to take the same amount of shots tomorrow. He just didn't make some shots he's very capable of making." I agree he should keep take just as many shots, just make sure his feet are set and don't rush them!
It didn't really seem like Anthony Davis went inside as much. There was this one time he did go inside against Ezili, and got his s*** blocked. You know why? Because Davis tried to shoot the ball with his right hand whiling spining towards the left side of the basket. Shoot that with your left, and that's two points. Speaking of post, KENDRICK PERKINS. Perkins was dominate on the post, going 5 for 5. With his 10 points, he did his job.....................AS A BACKUP. We still couldn't get a rebound!!!! Perkins only had 4 boards. Pelicans had 25 defensive rebounds while the Warriors had 21. This is when we are missing Omer Asik. I know most pels fans are not a fan of him, but I am. If you read Hunter's article on him, it explains it perfectly. He does his job, rebounds and defends, nothing more, nothing less.
Gee, Smith, and Cunningham impressed me the most this game. Gee and Cunningham actually attaked the basket, most of our players didn't do that. Cunningham had to leave the game with a concussion he got so hopefully that's not too bad. Ish Smith, who we claimed Monday and hasn't even practiced with the team impressed me a lot. He will fit in with Gentry's system perfectly with his speed. I can't wait to till Evans comes back, who I think will improve the most this season because of Gentry.
GRADEBOOK
Davis - F
Gordon - D
Cunningham - B+
Perkins - B+
Robinson - C
Smith - A-
Anderson - D
Gee - B
Ajinca - C
written by Cris Karraa
Oh , and lets talk about Anthony Davis. He finished with 18 points and only 6 rebounds. That may be good for an average PF, but not good enough for a superstar. Davis went 4 for 20 and 0 for 2 on threes. The shots he took were just not good in my opinion. He rushed and forced them. The shots he got were mostly of a pick and pop and I felt like he had time to square up and face the bucket, make a dead ball move and get to the rack. And when he did do that, he was fingerrolling or doing a floater. He did get to the line a lot like he usually does which was good, going 10 for 15. After a game, in an interview, Coach Gentry talked about Davis and said, "He's going to take the same amount of shots tomorrow. He just didn't make some shots he's very capable of making." I agree he should keep take just as many shots, just make sure his feet are set and don't rush them!
It didn't really seem like Anthony Davis went inside as much. There was this one time he did go inside against Ezili, and got his s*** blocked. You know why? Because Davis tried to shoot the ball with his right hand whiling spining towards the left side of the basket. Shoot that with your left, and that's two points. Speaking of post, KENDRICK PERKINS. Perkins was dominate on the post, going 5 for 5. With his 10 points, he did his job.....................AS A BACKUP. We still couldn't get a rebound!!!! Perkins only had 4 boards. Pelicans had 25 defensive rebounds while the Warriors had 21. This is when we are missing Omer Asik. I know most pels fans are not a fan of him, but I am. If you read Hunter's article on him, it explains it perfectly. He does his job, rebounds and defends, nothing more, nothing less.
Gee, Smith, and Cunningham impressed me the most this game. Gee and Cunningham actually attaked the basket, most of our players didn't do that. Cunningham had to leave the game with a concussion he got so hopefully that's not too bad. Ish Smith, who we claimed Monday and hasn't even practiced with the team impressed me a lot. He will fit in with Gentry's system perfectly with his speed. I can't wait to till Evans comes back, who I think will improve the most this season because of Gentry.
GRADEBOOK
Davis - F
Gordon - D
Cunningham - B+
Perkins - B+
Robinson - C
Smith - A-
Anderson - D
Gee - B
Ajinca - C
written by Cris Karraa