New Orleans Pelicans: Picked And Popped In Defeat
By Owen Sanborn
Some writers and fans within the basketball stratosphere have quickly dubbed the New Orleans Pelicans tandem of Omer Asik and Anthony Davis as the perhaps the best interior in the NBA. Both have the innate ability to intimidate potential paint penetrators (otherwise known as triple p’s) because of their length and ability to block shots.
This is evidenced by the duo combining for 5.8 blocks per game through the first six games this season.
For all of the interior dominance, Davis, Asik and any other Pelicans big man may need some help when dealing with opposing bigs that have the ability to space the floor and knock down the 3 ball.
Kevin Love is the ultimate description of this kind of big man, and he unsurprisingly torched the Pelicans for six three pointers during last night’s loss in Cleveland.
Teams with bigs of the Kevin Love mold would be wise to attack the swatting New Orleans defense by making them make sharp decisions in pick and pop situations. Take this pick and pop sequence between Kyrie Irving and Love for example:
Davis chooses to aggressively hedge out on Irving after Love’s screen sends Holiday sprawling to the hardwood. Because of the hard hedge, Davis is unable to rotate back over to the wide open Love before he splashes one of his six 3-pointers.
More from Hoops Habit
- The 5 most dominant NBA players who never won a championship
- 7 Players the Miami Heat might replace Herro with by the trade deadline
- Meet Cooper Flagg: The best American prospect since LeBron James
- Are the Miami Heat laying the groundwork for their next super team?
- Sophomore Jump: 5 second-year NBA players bound to breakout
Holiday losing his feet on the play doesn’t help matters, but I am skeptical that Davis or Holiday would have been able to rotate over to Love regardless because Irving shrewdly uses a back dribble to create an easy passing lane to hit Love with a crisp chest pass.
A way to negate this from happening is for Davis to simply not hedge so aggressively in pick and rolls involving a capable shooter like Love. Instead of initiating the pass to Love, Davis could have played it conservative and sat back near the top of the key (similar to how Tom Thibodeau and his Bulls defend the pick and roll) and react to Irving’s movement.
If the Pelicans want Davis to hedge in these situations then players must be ready to rotate over and help on the perimeter. I understand that Tyreke Evans leaving LeBron alone in the corner isn’t ideal, but it is a necessary rotation to force Love into making a quick decision rather than having a wide open three.
For much of the offseason, much of the buzz revolving around the Cavs offense was the implementation of head coach David Blatt’s motion offense and how it would be Spurs-like.
I noticed several sprinkles of Blatt’s motion principles being utilized last night whenever LeBron James and Kyrie decided not to simply take over the game (which is a pretty scary offense itself).
Mike Miller, Tristan Thompson and Kevin Love put on a clinic during this fourth-quarter possession:
(I apologize for the poor video quality, I am not exactly Spielberg on the filmmaking front.)
Mike Miller starts on the left side of the floor and receives the handoff/screen combo from Love as he dribbles toward the top of the key. Miller’s sudden movement makes Ryan Anderson (who is supposed to be guarding Love) antsy and gradually moves him further away from Love.
Tristan Thompson is anxiously waiting to set a second screen on poor Jimmer Fredette, forcing Anderson to account for both the rolling Thompson and the deadeye marksmen that is Kevin Love. Anderson, not the fleetest of foot, chooses to shadow towards the Thompson roll slightly, leaving Love wide open for yet another 3.
Splash.
Mike Miller deserves credit for his calculated dribbling and smart decision making on this play, but Anderson needs to know better than to leave Love with that much space.
Much of these defensive struggles have more to do with the execution of the Cavaliers rather than the ineptitude of the Pelicans, but it is still important to rise to the occasion when given the opportunity to compete against teams with elite talent. Playing teams of Cleveland and San Antonio’s caliber back-to-back will better serve New Orleans defensively in the long run.
Asik and Davis may have the interior on lockdown for now, but teams with big men that can space the floor may pose a threat to the dynamic duo on the defensive end of the floor. One game against the best floor spacing big man in the game certainly does not call for panic, but it will be something to monitor as the season moves forward.
I don’t think the Pelicans would LOVE (puns) to be picked and popped to death in defeat again.