Two teams with familiar narratives but on opposite ends of the championship windows will meet for an early January stress test in the Smoothie King Center. The young New Orleans Pelicans will put a four-game winning streak on the line versus the experienced LA Clippers to start the first weekend of Mardi Gras. Kawhi Leonard's new-look Clippers also have a four-game winning streak going and are trying to shed some of the same negative narratives as the younger Zion Williamson-led squad.
Leonard and Paul George teamed up the same 2019 summer the Pelicans drafted Zion Williamson and acquired Brandon Ingram. All four NBA All-Stars have had issues staying on the court due to multiple injuries, rehabs, and setbacks. Now, both New Orleans and Los Angeles fans have reason to believe this is the year Lady Luck looks fondly upon their franchises.
Pelicans forward Larry Nance Jr. recently returned to action as well. He took a few weeks off to heal up the ribs, groin, ankle, and whatever hurt when rolling out of bed every morning. New Orleans has won every game since he returned to the rotation. CJ McCollum offered a few suggestions recently but Nance Jr. knows it will be tough to extend the streak against a veteran LA team making perhaps one final run in their title window.
Clash of contenders trying to quiet the critics
“(The Clippers are) super hot right now,” Nance Jr. noted. “They've been playing really well since James (Harden) got there. It's going to be a good one. We're playing well too so I think with this team that has so many offensive threats with Russ, James, P.G., Kawhi, Norm off the bench…it's high offensive power so you know individual defense, team defense. There will be a heavy, heavy focus on that end of the court tonight.”
Nance Jr. was talking about the foursome of Russell Westbrook, Harden, Kawhi Leonard, and Paul George. Four huge names in the basketball world all gathered in the ‘other' Los Angeles locker room. Add Norm Powell to the mix and you've got an NBA Finals contender, when healthy.
When healthy. There goes that phrase again. The Pelicans and Clippers cannot be faulted for being tired of hearing it. The Clippers just lost center Moussa Diabate for a few months. Thankfully for New Orleans, the critics are starting to ask about defensive effort and not availability. Williamson and Ingram have been doing well to make sure those skeptics stay silenced as well.
Pelicans ‘care' about playing championship-level defense
“A level of care. That's all defense is in the NBA,” Larry Nance Jr. affirmed after practice. “If you have guys that actually care about getting stops, you will. We’re all good enough athletes. We're all big enough, fast enough, strong enough, intelligent enough, but we just have guys that care right now. You know Naji, Jose, Herb, and Dyson. Our point-of-attack defenders make it easy on the rest of us. They're going to keep doing what they do and the rest of us will keep feeding off their energy.”
Sure Naji Marshall and Jose Alvarado are fan favorite spark plugs off the bench but the Pelicans cannot afford slow starts. Prioritize defense from the opening tip and the second unit should be playing with a lead. Williamson and Ingram have heard that directive from the coaching staff for years. They've been leading the way on defense after a tough loss to the Lakers. The newfound focus by the All-Stars has been impossible to ignore unless you're looking at the fan-voting tallies.
“Yeah, no question,” Lance admitted. “We're your best players are playing defense, what reason do the rest of us have for getting beat? They're scoring 20 (points) a game and playing defense. The rest of us need to be on our Ps and Qs. Just like everything with this team, it starts with B and Z. If they are going to continue to play at that level then this team is going to be really, really good.”
As for the Clippers, Nance Jr. gave an abbreviated scouting report before leaving the press scrum.
“Those guys are really good,” he admitted. “They are going to get their threes up but we just have to make their looks difficult…Our length on the wings is really good…We've got guys who can really contest a lot of shots and it's been important to us. A little bit of it is luck, but I think we've done a good job of making our own luck.”
Follow Us
Subscribe