The New Orleans Pelicans have a long list of grievances and reasons to play the visiting Utah Jazz with revenge on the mind. First, the Crescent City's fans want the franchise on the other side of the Rocky Mountains to remove the word Jazz from their vocabulary. More importantly, the Jazz have beaten the Pelicans twice already and New Orleans needs a win to tie the season series. These two teams usually play a tight contest and the scouting reports are no secret either. Everything revolves around stopping Utah's Lauri Markkanen from comfortably finding his spots. Pelicans' sharpshooter Trey Murphy III shared the game plan while complimenting Markkanen.
“It's a lot like last year,” Murphy said after practice. “He got to Utah and got into a really good situation. He's really showing what he can do with his game. It's great to see because at one point he was just a pick-and-pop big. Now he's turned into a wing jumbo scorer. It's really nice to see but we'll definitely send a lot of guys at him tonight.”
Speaking of last year, the Pelicans did not beat the Jazz at all. New Orleans has notched just a single victory over Utah while Markkanen was available.
In fact, the Jazz won twice at home earlier this season without their All-Star logging a single minute. Utah won all three meetings last year, two of which were overtime thrillers. Murphy knows the Pelicans will have to be ready against a surprisingly competitive Jazz squad currently occupying an NBA Play-In Tournament spot.
“There's really not many easy nights in the NBA, you're playing against the best guys in the world,” Murphy explained. “The West especially is very tough for sure….(The key is) just getting better throughout the year. We are a team that didn’t have a lot of chemistry at the beginning of the year. Now we’re getting a lot more reps and a lot more chemistry, and definitely getting better.”
Murphy's compliments were not out of place at all. Markkanen is averaging 24 points, 8.9 rebounds, and 1.9 assists per game. That's more points than anyone on the New Orleans roster and more rebounds than every Pelicans player not named Jonas Valanciunas. The Pelicans identified some big weaknesses recently. Willie Green got real honest about the team's second-half collapses.
Now the players must respond. They'll have to contain Markkanen or risk having the Jazz dance out of the Smoothie King Center with a win just as Mardi Gras ramps up.
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