April 5, 2023 • 37 mins
On the latest Pelicans Podcast presented by SeatGeek, Michael Wallace of Grind City Media joins the show (12:40) to discuss how motivated the Memphis Grizzlies will be heading into Wednesday’s game against New Orleans, the biggest reasons for their recent improved play and gritty identity, plus his thoughts on the Grizzlies’ possible opponents in the NBA playoffs.
Joe Cardosi and Jim Eichenhofer also discuss Tuesday’s loss to the Sacramento Kings and break down the 'scoreboard watch' worthy games left on the NBA schedule.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome into the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast presented by Seat Geek,
a podcast dedicated to everything you need to know about
the squad. Pick at the Dice in Left Wing three.
He has had an outstanding evening, May it continue. That
is twelve points for Dice and Daniels, two below his
(00:25):
career high. He has not missed a shot. Tonight. The
New Orleans Pelicans podcast starts right now. Welcome to the
Pelicans Podcast presented by SeatGeek. I am Joe Cardosi, joined
by the irrepressible Jim Ikenhofer. Because you know what, Jim,
(00:48):
last night stung. I stopped checking Twitter once it started
just giving me the finger every time I checked it.
But you know what, let's just call this hashtag what
the hell happened Wednesday? Because I think you know all
Pelicans fans rup it was almost a playoff atmosphere in
the first quarter of that game really dwindled because the
fans didn't have much to root for after that first quarter.
(01:09):
But you know that the Kings are third in the
West for a reason. Yeah, and we questioned openly on
the podcast before, are we going to get their best
punch or they're gonna sort of Coast with their seating set. Well,
I think they answered we got their best punch. Yeah.
I think one of the biggest takeaways that I had
from Tuesday's game is, I mean, if you combine what
they did last night with the previous game that they
(01:32):
beat the Pelicans pretty handily out in Sacramento at the
beginning of the march, I mean, this team is legitimate.
People want to talk about how, you know, teams are
trying to position for the six seeds so that they'll
play Sacramento because the Kings look like they're very likely
to be number three and the Grizzlies are likely to
be number two. But I mean, based on the last
two times that New Orleans played them, there's no way
(01:53):
you can go into a matchup with them and being like, yeah,
this is the team we want to play. Because Sacramento
just looks really good, and we know that they have
the number one offense in the NBA. They actually, statistically,
I believe, are still on pace to have the best
offensive rating in the history of the NBA. So I mean,
this is not a team that you can just be like, yeah,
they've never done anything in the past, so therefore they're
no good this year, it's not true. I mean, their
(02:14):
record kind of speaks for itself. And just having Darren
Fox back in the lineup, I mean, what a difference
the guy gets to the basket. He's I mean, he
might be the fastest player in the NBA off the dribbles.
So he caused a lot of problems for New Orleans.
And as good as New Orleans defense has been lately,
they had a rough night last night. Yeah, it was tough.
I mean, he had twenty three points. It was the
Pelicans first time actually facing Darren Fox this season. He
(02:37):
was absent as we faced them before, and he proved
his worth. Also Keithan murray Man Wolf seven threes from him.
You know, the I guess the worst part of last
night was watching the King's plan of hey, let's lock
up BI and make other people score actually work. And
you don't want that to be a blueprint going forward
(03:00):
because brandon Ingram. You know, he had a fine night
twenty two points, but boy was it just sort of
an empty twenty two points. Yeah, and it was the
turnovers too. He had seven turnovers. I mean, he's had
some stretches lately that have been phenomenal in terms of
assisted turnover ratio. I think there was one two game
combination where he had twenty three assists in one turnover total,
(03:20):
So that was definitely out of character for him. But again,
you give the King's defense credit for that. They're not
a good defensive team there. They've been kind of bottom five,
bottom six. Yeah, I mean, talked about it all night. Basically,
the King's plan is we're not gonna play defense. We're
gonna hurry up and get out in transition and we're
gonna outscore. You can play defense if you want, We're
gonna score one point. Yeah. I mean when you mentioned
(03:40):
Kegan Murray, I mean the team, Sacramento team as a whole,
but him specifically. It just seemed like they had answers
so often. Every time the Pelicans maybe put together a
little floral run six two run or whatever, he would
come up and make a three, and it just seemed
like the Pelicans were never able to get that momentum going.
I mean, when you're at home and you're down ten
(04:01):
fifteen points in the second half, you expect to make
a run, but they never really did. And anytime they
put a little something together, it was either him or
you know, Harrison Barnes made some big shots. Malik Monk
was really good. Yeah. I mean they just have a
bunch of guys that just continued to come up with
with plays and it just it just by maybe I
(04:22):
want to say, early fourth quarter. I was like, this
isn't gonna happen tonight. They're not going to be able
to come back because they're just not Plicans were not
able to get enough stops on defense. I mean, Sacramento
went seventeen for forty two from three point range, and
that was a huge key to them getting this wine.
It seemed like even when we would score, they always
had a set of arms length. But you know, as
as we said, our Bi was our leading score once
(04:44):
again putting the team on his back as much as
he could. You know, Jim always a busy b He
was in the locker room as always after the game.
You along with the media pool caught up with Brandon
Ingram after the game, a bit deject, but he talked
about it and you, uh, we were talking about of
these games where you had big numbers wherever the turnover
(05:05):
was really a little they went on tonight. What did
they do? It just kind of make things just a
depicture more blur for you all there Uh sending double
T seven defense a little bit um and seven quarter
all um, Um a little slower h in my pace
slowed me down a little bit, trying to creating get
(05:27):
to the ram a little bit. But um they had
a connected defense where off the double teams that were
really really solid. How much was that the issues and
I just trying to match their paces just the way
they've been getting up and down the offense. Um, well
you know, um turnovers. Um, I played a big part
in the turnover um and them getting out of transition
(05:50):
and making threes. Um. It's hard to fight back when
you're shooting two especials threes or you don't get a
basket at all and then going down to scorn. So um,
it's kind of hard to fight back. It's the person
you've got something with, just with kind of the differences
he makes up there, he pushes that pace able to
(06:13):
get some easier shots in transition. Um and um he's
able to get to the ram and be effective and
in ways um that other guys on the team are
are Um him get into the basket and finishing him
gett into the basket and being able to play makes
us a different team. For the speaking of the threes,
(06:34):
seventeenmate threes for them, twenty two attempts for y'all know
the last couple of games, y'all haven't needed to necessarily
take a lot of threes to win the game, but
sometimes a little tough to keep up with that. Um,
what do you feel like? I guess they did well
or perhaps y'all need to do to bridge the gap
a little bit in terms of the day three ball.
Make sure they will get an attempts up. I'm not
(06:55):
sure trademarcer got enough night CJ. And also my self
when they give me, um, when they give me open
looks and when I'm on that three point line, I
gotta be able to take them. But all in the game,
I'm sure they looked at our last few games and
game playing and said, these guys don't take a lot
of three, so we're gonna clog to paint. There was
(07:17):
a game plan, so we gotta be aware of that
and be confident enough to take those shots. In Memphis
tomorrow will be another team that likes to protect the paint.
They got some protect us out there. Do you think
that they'll be important to perhaps adjusting to tomorrow's getting
get more attempts. Yeah, Um, offensively, we gotta get more
(07:37):
attempts on the three point line. Continue to be aggressive.
We have a really aggressive, aggressive team in the paint.
We can get paint points. But um, we gotta play
off our defense a little bit better tomorrow, playing off
our defense, trying to get in transition and trying to
get some easy buckets. I think, um, that will open
up the three points for our shoes. Great stuff there
(07:59):
from from Bi. It's just interesting, you know that that
was a that was a loss that it felt bad
because we just felt like we were coming into this
game like you gotta just win one and we're in.
You know, the fans wanted something to celebrate. But as
we talked about, the Kings now are Pacific Division winners
for the first time since two thousand and two, two
(08:21):
thousand and three, I believe, Uh so, look it meant
something to them. Yeah, we know something about that as
a team that is building towards something. Darreon Fox and
the rest of this talented team they've they've had to
sit in the gutter for a bit, and uh, you know,
they want to win. Yeah, it's funny when after the game,
when I saw a few people with their Pacific Division
(08:42):
champion shirts that they were wearing, I didn't even realize
that they had just won the I thought maybe it
was people that had those shirts from like a few
games ago, that they had already won it and they
just so happened to be wearing them at that moment.
So got some like it's a knockoff that was preprinted.
Yeah it was. I mean, it's it's funny. Like I've
talked about this a little bit here and there in
the past that I don't really like the fact that
(09:04):
they've de emphasized the divisions the way that they have
in the NBA, so that they don't really matter that
much because you have It's funny how this is a
whole other conversation, but the league has talked so much
in the last few years about adding other things that
are important to win besides just the championship. You know,
the whole rings culture thing has gotten annoying and people
don't like that. But that's why I say, why did
(09:24):
we de emphasize divisions Because at least, you know, back
when you know, there were only four divisions in the
NBA that might have been part of it, but it
was a legitimate achievement, and teams would put banners up
in their arena and people would say, like, that's awesome
that they won the division. You know, maybe they don't
go on to win their conference or the NBA championship, overall,
(09:45):
it's still something that you can look back at and
say that that was a good accomplishment. Now it's like
you don't even know when teams win a division. And
as evidence by the fact that I didn't even realize
that they had won it last night, and the shirts
didn't even tip me off to the idea that they
had just won it, because I thought maybe they had
done it previous previous games. So yeah, I'm glad to
(10:06):
see a small market team being able to celebrate something
they haven't been able to celebrate in twenty years. I
right that it's at our expense. They went into into
last night's game with a very definite plan, lockdown, brandon
Ingram and it meant something to them. Sure, And I
wouldn't be surprised if you know, they're human that they've
heard people talk about how you know they're a team
(10:26):
that doesn't have isn't really that feared. I'm sure they
want to prove it. They want to prove it to
people that, like, you know, we're a legitimate squad that
you're not gonna want to play during the playoffs. And
I mean, I've been impressed, very impressed by them the
last two times that they've played New Orleans, as well
as in other games that they've played that I've caught.
So I mean, like you said, it's good to see
(10:47):
a small market team be successful. And I feel really
good for their fans because their fans have gone through
so much and it's kind of the way I feel
a little bit to a lesser extent, but the same
kind of deal with Pelicans fans, like we we want
to see them get rewarded for the years of support
that they've had and how it hasn't been easy around here.
It's not like it's been a joy ride all of
(11:08):
the time. So I'm happy to see them light the beam.
I didn't like the fact that there were some fans
chanting light the beam in the smoothe King Center, but
I will say, god a little testy on the way out.
Some Pelicans fans were giving them a little hack and
I was like, hey, yeah, be nice. Yeah, I think
that was It was way more significant than in some
of their other road games that they've had, like when
(11:29):
they've and I'm sure some of it is geographically. Um
when they won a game against the Clippers, that was
a huge ovation and a huge light the beam it was.
It was kind of a sprinkling of light the beam.
It was nothing to get upset, just one guy. Go,
don't go yell at that. Guys, you know he's seven,
fell the braid, he's having his best time. But look
there there are reasons to to look ahead still with
(11:52):
optimism because look as we lost that game to a
very good team that was motivated. But today you wake up,
my blood is still in my veins or it belongs
and it's still when and we're in it's still that.
So there are still scenarios or gcenarios. We face the
Grizzlies tonight, we're facing the Timberwolves, the Knicks. Just gotta
(12:15):
take one of them. Jim and I feel like we
can start tonight. But but let's talk to Michael Wallace
from grind City Media. He's the Gym of Memphis, the
Gymphis on Grizzlies dot com and he's going to give
us the insider info, this scoop, if you will, on
the Grizzlies, our opponent tonight. So let's get to mister
(12:35):
Michael Wallace joining us on the Pelicans podcast. We are
facing the team tonight. Mister Michael Wallace, writer for grind
City Media. Michael, I know you're in New Orleans right now,
(12:56):
getting you know, settled in as y'all got in late.
How are you doing. How y'all feeling? Hey man, I'm
doing great. You know, this is the last three games
of the season. You know, we're in the season on
a three game road trips starting here in New Orleans,
second out of a back to back. You know, you
feel the legs, you feel the weight of the season.
But at the end of the day, you're looking forward
to you in the Grizzly situation, being able to take
(13:18):
care of these three games, get some time off during
the play in and watching everybody else dog fight it out,
and then you get to the playoffs to following weekend.
So we're in a good spot right now. I'm looking
for the two. Yeah, someday I would like to experience
that as well. Yeah, that's the time being it's gonna
be it's gonna be, like you said, Michael, it's going
to be a dog fight as far as trying to
figure out what seed the Pelicans are going to be.
(13:39):
You know, one of the things going into this game,
even going back maybe a few days or a week
or so, when people here looked ahead to this game
against Memphis, I think one of the biggest things that
people wondered about was what would Memphisis motivation be at
this point in the season. You know, we thought it
was possible by now that you would have the two
seed locked up, and you almost do, but not quite.
I mean, how do you think the Grizzly are? How
(14:01):
motivated are they right now to get that number two seed?
And you know, how do you think that they're going
to approach this specific game tonight. You know, it's it's
one of those deals because it's a back to back
and you know, with with with the job Morant coming
back to the team after his absence, he hasn't played
in back to back yet, and so it's it's kind
of he's not listed as out, like definitively out. These
(14:24):
guys are probably going to be closer to game time decisions.
You do have to manage their minutes, but you also
want to be respecting to the fact that you know
you can clinch your two wins. You need two wins
or a combination. You know that that with the Sacramento Kings,
a guy a team you guys just saw last night,
they're not letting up off the gas at all, right,
so they're still going. And so as long as that's
(14:45):
the case, you know, you want to preserve the right
and I think the Grizzies will be motivated to lock
in at the number two seeds to maximize their chances
to get home court through at least the first two
rounds of the playoffs because they have the best home
record in the league. They've already clinched that. Sof you're
going to do justice by that that, I do think
you have to show up the number two seeds as
best you can. It seems like one of the benefits
(15:07):
obviously if they can. You know, it's possible, like you
said even tonight, that they could clinch the two seed
if they win and Sacramento loses against Dallas, because that
would wrap it up and then you get to go
into the weekend where you're playing at Milwaukee in at
Oklahoma City and you don't have to worry about the
results because you already have that kind of locked in
and I know you're going to get some rest next
week anyways. But I mean, I'm sure it would be
(15:28):
beneficial to be in a situation where you don't have
to press any at all in those two last couple games.
So I'm sure that's a factor. You know. One of
the things that we're wondering about two is I mean,
it seems like Denver went through a stretch where they
were struggling a little bit, then they played a lot better,
and Memphis kind of had the same thing. I mean,
I know some of that is due to players that
were unavailable. You've had some key injuries as well, but
(15:51):
I mean, lately, over the last ten games, the Grizzlies
have the best record in the league at eight and two.
What do you think are you know, beyond some of
the obvious stuff, what do you think are some of
the reasons why they've been able to play so well
over this recent stretch pretty similarly to what New Orleans
has done. Yeah, I mean in New Orleans is just
one game back of that, I believe over the last ten.
So you know, you're you're looking at two teams that
(16:13):
you know and have found something, you know, coming out
of March and coming into April. And I know the
Pelicans have dropped a couple of years starting off April,
you know, including last night to Sacramento Kings. But I
think what's worked for the Grizzlies is they've been able
to find ball booming again. They've been able to play
and get into that twenty five plus assist territory. They've
(16:35):
been able to knock down threes with Luke Canard being
so comfortable right now, and when you have the combination
of Luke Canard and Desmond Banging both playing prolific basketball,
you've been able to allow Jomran to sort of work
his way back into his rhythm. And that's still an
ongoing process. When you miss nine games, that's a long
time to miss, especially when you talk about in a
(16:55):
short convention amount of time. So I think at the
three points, the assists and the ability to finally figure
out how to win on the road is what helped
the Grizzlies doing this stretch of you know, eight wins
in their last ten games, Because you know, the Chicago game. Notwithstanding,
on Sunday, they looked like they were ready to to really,
you know, sprint their way into this last stretch. Now
(17:18):
they had a bump in the road. This team still
kind of plays to the extremes. There was like three
straight games where they had you know, thirty and forty
point swings where they were either up by twenty and
lost by twenty or down by twenty and took the
league by twenty. And that you could play the you know,
a tale of They've been two different teams, sometimes within
the same quarter, and that's been an issue that Telligences
(17:41):
just wanted to ride out and solidify and stabilize. And
I think with Jarren being on the floor and being
available as a defender, a defensive anchor, that's the key.
In addition to the three point shooting and the ball
movements with the assists. Well, you know, the Pelicans have
been on the wrong side of some of those twenty
point swings as well. We faced the Warriors and you know,
we were looking good, it seemed like for the first
(18:03):
stretch of that game, and then they just wore us down.
You know, I wanted to make it with you sort
of an anti Draymond podcast, you know, sort of a
Draymond hate podcast, maybe because I actually found myself rooting
for Dylan Brooks, which look as a New Orleans fan.
You know, he knows he plays the heel. It's sometimes
hard to do. But when he was talking smack about Draymond,
(18:25):
I was like, preach, man, I think I'm I think
I'm a Dylan Brooks fan for now. But you know,
it seems like they have at least the same mindset.
Get into the opposing team's head, make them have to
account for you that mental weight that you can create
along with actually defending and being physical and such a
huge part of his game. I mean, you know, as
(18:47):
much as we love to hate on Draymond and honestly
Dylan Brooks over here because he's a pest that that's
a good things. He's a good player. You know, how
important is he to the identity of Memphis. It just
seems like Memphis, even from the outside looking in, you
look at them pretty tough, uh, And that's that's an
identity that comes from the inside out. It's not something
(19:08):
that was tacked on of the team. They made it themselves. Yeah,
I mean, you talk about the same kind of situation
with Ja Alvarado, right with the Ppelicans. I mean, he's
a guy that that that made his name being a
pesky under your skin nat Mosquito like defender, and he's
not afraid to get CHESTI with you and mouty with you. Right.
So you know, those are the kind of players that
(19:29):
you love when they're on your team, and you know,
the opposed posing fan bases and the opposing players kind
of despise having to go up against those guys every
single time. Um. The thing that makes Dylan Brooks special
is that he can do it on both and the floor.
You know, this hasn't been as great as shooting percentage
season by any stretch, but he's going to be a
competitor and he's not going to be afraid of the
(19:50):
big moment. And in a lot of ways, he sorted
the alpha dog defensively on this team. Jaren Jackson produces,
you know, the stats and the metrics and all those
kind of things, but the mindset and the tenacity starts
with Dylan Brooks being unafraid to take on the biggest
defensive perimeter challenges every single night. And so you know,
I got a lot of love and respect for both
Dylan and Draymond. I love when they were going back
(20:12):
and forth at each other. Yeah, I kind of cringe
when Draymond went nuclear on that podcast, when he basically
just lit into Dylan Brooks and what did Dylan Brooks
do come right back? Those two teams played a couple
of nights after and he went right up into Draymond's face,
and heither one of those guys got technical files. So
I think at the end of the day, that's something
that you look at and you say respect. You know,
(20:34):
recognizes respect, and it's one of those things where you're
seeing that. And I think what's made Dylan season this
year is the fact that he has gotten a response
directly from Draymond Green. He has gotten a response from
Donovan Mitchell, he has gotten a response from Kevin Durant.
Those guys recognize him because a few years ago they
didn't really know who Dylan Brooks was. That's got the
(20:54):
case anymore. He's made a name for himself in this league.
But now he has that going forward, whatever happens with
the best of his career. You know, speaking of the Warriors,
you know we mentioned earlier how the Grizzlies are in
a position right now where I mean, most likely they're
going to end up as the two seeds, So you're
going to end up playing the seven seed if that holds,
(21:15):
with the Memphis staying in second. Um as you as
you kind of monitor the race, and obviously even after
the seedings are completed, you're still not going to know
who you're playing, because it's going to depend on whoever
wins that seven eight playing game. But from the perspective
of Grizzlies fans, who who do you think that they
would want to face in the first round? I mean,
(21:36):
do you want another chance at Golden State? I mean,
there's a It's just it's so interesting. There's so many
different possibilities of who we fans have opinions, They we
fans have opinions, and quietly, I'm sure teams and players
and coaches, bass and all of that. Of course, either
with the last three two or three games left in
the season, there's still I want to say, six different
(21:57):
combinations of opponents that you can face as the two
seven right now, six different combinations Because of how things
are so convoluted right now, Um, you know, obviously this
could be a playoff preview. I really think when it's
all same done, it would be two seven and where
it is today, you know what I mean. I think
the Pelicans are still in the seventh spot. Um. And
(22:18):
if they get a win and win, you know, and
they host a home game and win that home game,
I think we could easily be seeing these two teams
matching up a weekend, you know, in two weekends starting
off the first round of the series. Um, I think
that would be you know, a Grizzlies fans want the
most comfortable first round upon it to day to find it.
There's no disrespect to the Pelicans because as a healthy team,
(22:41):
the Pelicans gave the Grizzlies. Fitch and how I'm going
back and forth. When you have Zion eliminated from the equation.
You know, even though you know Bi and and different guys,
you know, Yllness is doing this thing again. And you
know you guys got a slew of wing you know,
long ranging wing defenders and shooters. Um, Zion as different
dynamic to it. He's a different beast to prepare. If
(23:03):
he's done, yeah, yes, right and if if he if
he's not, if you can't say for show he's going
to be there for the first round, then yes, that
would be a favorable matchup for the Grizzlies. If uh
if if what you don't want? Theoretically, I think if
Grizzlies stays, they would cringe at the Lakers in the
first round, and and some of them would cringe at
Golden State the Lakers for the reason that if you
(23:24):
get Anthony Davis and Lebron James in the series, they're
going to slow the ball down. The Grizzies had struggled
with half fourt offense um from that standpoint, and you
got to know that the pressure will be to give
the Lakers, you know, as far as you can get
the Lakers in that situation, and you know, so that
would be uncomfortable. But at the end of the day,
the Grizzies don't really fear anybody any matchup. I think
(23:45):
they do. Personally, I think that they do. I want
to get that that Golden State demon off their back
one way or another so they can align where they
have to get past Golden State. That's something that these
players want to do just from a competitive standpoint. So
it's it's going to be into to see. There's so
much that can happen between now and Sunday's games in
terms of the seedings and the standings that you just
(24:06):
got to be prepared for any number of combination. Well,
the one thing I can guarantee you is that if
the two seven is Memphis versus the Lakers. Maybe I'll
just speak for myself, but I will be waving my
Grizzlies flag. I will be a lot of Grizzlies fans
in New Orleans if y'all face the Lakers, I was
about to say, And everybody's like, you know, and that's
the thing, man, It's it's fun actually, you know, no
(24:27):
matter what happens, it's fun that there's actually like a
rivalry budding here in this division because as a team
that's been often overlooked as the Pelicans, y'all know what
it's like too, is the Grizzlies seeing the Sacramento Kings
get their moment in the sun, even though it was
at our expense. You know, it's just nice to see
some of these small market teams that a lot of
people kind of have snickered at in the past actually
(24:49):
making some hay and having to be accounted for. You know,
I think the division you know now the divisions two
times the Southwest Division champions I mean the division is
better when you know when New Orleans is strong and
when Houston is playing for something. Obviously San Antonio Hill
has a tradition in the history in Dallas has won
the championship too, So the division has kind of flipped
a little bit. But you're right when you look at
(25:10):
these standings in the West, a lot of teams that
have been overlooked are going to be major players. Denver,
that's fly over Country. We talked about that before. You know,
Memphis isn't in the situation. You know, Oklahoma City can
still make some noise in there, you know, So Sacramento
is in there. So all of these teams that hadn't
gotten a lot of postseason attention and love, we'll be
front and center with this Western Conference playoff race. And
(25:32):
it's gonna be fun to see. It's it's it's been
a fun thing to see shake out. You know, it's
it's all getting crazy, man. So we're gonna scrap it
out and it's gonna be a fun game tonight. We're
just looking forward to a good one and we'll see
you then, man, absolutely see you guys tonight. Thanks for
having me big thanks to Michael Wallace of grind City Media.
(25:56):
Give him a follow at my Mike check m I case.
You can read his articles over at Grizzlies dot com.
You know, Jim So, we faced the Grizzlies tonight, But
there's a bunch of meaningful games on the slate tonight
for a bunch of teams. As we've talked about a
million billion times, the West is so fluid and between
(26:16):
tonight and tomorrow, between the meaningful games for us and
just fun games to watch, there's so many to check
out beyond what the Pelicans are doing. Yeah, I think
after the Pelicans game tonight ends against Memphis, people are
probably going to turn their TV's onto the La versus
LA showdown. That's probably might be the biggest game of
the rest of the week and much hyped game Western Conference.
(26:39):
Yeah for sure. I mean, you've got Russell Westbrook going
up against his old friends and teammates with the Lakers,
so he's going to have vengeance and blood on his mind.
I'm looking for good against us man. He has not
been looking bad since he left the Lake Show. And
you know, as interesting as it was, as I guess
I was as much of a bummer as it was
to watch the Lakers pull out that game last night.
(27:01):
Interesting to watch them get stretched into overtime. You know,
Lebron himself talking about how those minutes aren't going to
help the team. And now they're facing a Clippers team
who is on three days of rest, and they've had
this one circled on their calendar for a while. It
means something. So you know that this is gonna be
a real test of the Lakers that everyone seems to
(27:22):
be fearing and talking about how much hey they can
make if they get in the playoffs. We'll see tonight, man. Yeah.
By the way, Kendrick Perkins on NBA today, I'm sure
a lot of people saw this yesterday they said, give
us a perk centage of what chances the Lakers have
to win the West and he said one hund So
(27:43):
what is going on? Wow? And well we know the
mathematician Kendrick Perkins is always correct and has no sort
of loyalty to anyone on that. No, no, none, none,
But yeah, I mean, I look, I think it's gonna
be an interesting game to watch. And then you got
ings Mavericks. We just saw what the Kings did to us.
And look, if the Mavericks lose that game, they're in real,
(28:06):
real trouble, and that would be very good for us. Yeah,
if the Mavericks lose, I mean, let's talk specifically about
how it pertains to the Pelicans and then I'll go
out from there. If the Mavericks or thunder lose a
game one more game, the Pelicans at least clinch a
play in birth. The Pelicans can do it themselves by
just winning tonight. If they win the ways Memphis, we
(28:26):
don't have to worry about an eighties scenarios. But nonetheless,
obviously the New Orleans is extremely close to at least
clinching that part, which is the first step just get
in to the postseason and have a play in spot.
So yeah, that that part of it. But the Mavericks
are a half game behind Okay C. But OKAYC has
(28:48):
the tiebreaker. Oklahoma City's in tenth place, so that if
the Mavericks really need every single win that they can get,
if they go three and oz in their last three,
Okay C could still knock them out by winning twice.
But m Dallas just long story short, Dallas is in
a position where they have no margin for error to
extend their season beyond Sunday, when everyone closes with Game
(29:11):
eighty two. So that's uh that that's something to watch
as well. Hopefully we don't have to worry about that
that game starts at seven thirty. The Pelicans, hopefully with
a seven o'clock game, will have already notched to win
before that. Dallas came down to stress and UM. But overall,
I mean, unfortunately, Tuesday night, you know, we talked about
how great the weekend was, and we went through all
(29:32):
of the different teams that went oh into and lost
games and helped the Pelicans. Tuesday unfortunately was really yeah,
and I think it was it was frustrating a little
bit too. I think I'm sure a lot of fans
would probably feel the same way. That it wasn't just
that some of these other teams won, it was that
it was so in doubt and you're thinking, you know,
(29:52):
Lakers might lose this game to Utah. They ended up
pulling it out. The Warriors were down in the fourth
quarter to Oklahoma City, they ended up winning. UM. The
Tea Wolves game came down to like the last possession
that they were able to win, and that was I mean, well,
I'm sure we'll get into this even further on Friday's show,
but um, Minnesota win was so monumental in terms of
(30:13):
their race with the Pelicans, because now it's almost definitely
going to come down to that last game in terms
of who finishes ahead between New Orleans and Minnesota. There's
a million other tiebreakers and teams that could be involved.
I don't want to like hurt my brain and everyone
else's by doing that, but I mean suffice to say
that if Minnesota wins Saturday at San Antonio, it's definitely
going to come down to Sunday, regardless of what the
(30:35):
Pelicans do, just based on the math and the tiebreaker
that the season series with them is one one. So
I mean, it's going to almost definitely be decided on
Sunday afternoon. I was hoping that the Pelicans could avoid that,
but the combination of Minnesota winning last night and the
Pelicans losing made it kind of it's kind of it's
almost a fore gone complete squint at that sixth seed. Yeah,
(30:55):
now in the in the in terms of the sixth seed,
I mean, what's interesting with that is, as we mentioned,
the Clippers are playing the Lakers. One of those teams
has to lose and they'll that'll be their thirty ninth loss.
Pelicans I have thirty nine losses right now. If Pelicans
win tonight and the Clippers lose, the Pelicans will move
ahead of them. They'll still be behind the Lakers. But
(31:16):
so I don't I'm not. I definitely not gonna sit
here and say, yah, you should root for the Lakers,
but that would be beneficial in terms of at least
you get someone else to do it. Go on some
website and outsource it. Just pay a guy to root
for the Lakers, just for the juju and look. And
then tomorrow the okac is facing Utah and we just
saw the Jazz. They took the title from Portland for
(31:36):
just putting guys out there. They had people on the
on the court that had just some dude on the
back of their jersey and gave LA the Lakers all
they could take. And now they're gonna be facing the
Oklahoma City Thunder. You never know what's gonna happen in
that game. Again. You just you gotta watch how the
plank go. Things fall. But all you can hope to
(31:57):
do is win your games and hope for the best
with those. But and then Nuggets Suns. That's not gonna
really affect seating. It's just gonna be a fun game
to watch. Yeah, I mean, Phoenix is still undefeated as
we go into Wednesday, when Kevin Durant plays, I believe
it's six and oo now. So they have played mostly
against teams that are kind of either lower tier or
kind of middle of the pack, So this is definitely,
(32:19):
you know, maybe their biggest tests so far. I'm not
sure what Yokihi's status is, but that'll be an interesting
game as well, just from the standpoint of, you know,
trying to stay unbeaten. They put the Suns potentially could
have the weirdest entrance to a postseason ever where they
make a major trade but the guy that they get
only plays like nine games before the playoffs and then
it's like, okay, now play the biggest games of the season.
(32:41):
I mean they would luck Yeah, they've been good, they've
been great so far. Obviously he's been there before, right,
It's just so unique though, it's such a weird position
to be in that they might have no absolutely and look,
speaking of being in a weird position. We don't know.
When you're listening to this podcast, we're recording it about
ten in the morning. So if you're asking, why are
they not talking about Zion, we don't know. We don't
(33:02):
know what's going to break. So as we are recording this,
no Zion news has come down. So it's not that
we're just avoiding talking about Zion. It's that we don't
have anything for you right now as we're recording this.
And also too, I mean along the same lines, as
we record this, I'll be waiting for the injury report
from Memphis that they're going to put out. The NBA
(33:24):
has a rule that on the second game of a
back to back, which applies both teams Grizzlies and Pelicans today,
they have to submit their injury list before one pm.
So we'll be getting that, you know, early afternoon as
we sit here and record this too. We don't know
in terms of is Memphis going to have a couple
of guys sit Are they going to list some guys
as you know, questionable or doubtful. We're gonna have to
(33:45):
all wait and find that out. I mean, that could
have a big effect as well on Wednesday's game in
terms of you know, it's definitely possible that they could
have a couple of guys rest and not have them
play the second game of a back to back. Yeah.
So yeah, we're not trying to be Kyle's over here.
We just don't have anything for you, we promise. I
actually had it circled Zion Day as the podcast topic,
(34:07):
but nothing yet. So we will see and our fingers
tosed everything we can possibly anatomically crossed. We have crossed
right now, we promise you. Hey. But by the way,
before we get out of here, Dyson looking good. Man.
It's nice to see Dyson continuing to uh, you know,
sort of get on that upward tick. He had twelve
points last night and just continuing to look improved and
(34:29):
to get his confidence back. Glad to see Dyson looking
pretty good. Yeah. I think he could be an elemental
piece to whatever they do in the playing tournament and
or the playoffs. Hopefully we get to see the Pelicans there.
I mean, he could be a key rotation piece. He
was four for four from the field last night, only
thirteen minutes. He scored twelve points. Like you mentioned, that
(34:50):
was actually the most points that he's had in a
game since November when he had double figures. He had
fourteen points against Toronto on November thirty. So, I mean,
we don't really look to him as the guy that,
you know, go out there and get a bunch of
spark of all fans. Yeah, but it's really helpful to
have him be able to make some open shots just
to be a threat, just to be a legitimate threat
(35:11):
so that people have to guard him somewhat. Yeah, So
that was one plus definitely from the game last night.
There weren't a whole lot of them, but that was
good to see him play well, like he said, And
he's been a positive element of the last few games
and he's been a positive plus minus in four of
the last five games. So doing a nice job in
the minutes that he's been out there, and hopefully just
(35:33):
see him continue to keep that up. Absolutely, we just
want to see the kid hold his head up high
and continue playing well. And let's continue playing well ourselves.
We want the Pelicans to win this game again. Win
and we're in Whin and we're in Whin and we're
in Whin and we're in I woke up screaming at Jim,
but I can't stop saying it. Jim, thanks for guiding
me on this rough day. You know, it's such a
(35:55):
confusing day. So much has happened. The roller coaster continues. Man,
we're high, We're low, We're hi, We're low. Today I
sort of didn't know where to be. Jim took me
by the arm as I was wandering in circles in
the parking lot and told me the news and set
me straight. Thanks man, Yeah, no problem. I mean, I
think we should look at this like, you know, we're
we're on the downward part of the roller coaster because
(36:16):
of the loss last night, But I think we'll have
a much brighter tone on Friday. If Wednesday night against
Memphis as a victory. Yeah, I mean if the Pelican
big picture, if the Pelicans can win these next couple
of games, I think they will Sunday is gonna be
almost definitely a huge monumental game, but they'll be in
better position if they can win these next couple going
into that. Yes, let's keep riding the roller coaster. Pelicans fans, Hey,
(36:41):
I will be there tonight. Go say hi to the
man in the window when you're walking into the Smoothie
Kink Center. That's me in the radio studio along with
Gus Cat Gill. Sometimes we'll even catch a glimpse of
jim I Canhoffer. If you can see through the flashbulbs,
pop it at you. But we will be there tonight.
Go to the Smoothie Kinks Center loud. We want you
out there in playoff form. We will talk to you
(37:05):
once again on Friday, hopefully jovial as hell. And until then,
thanks for listening to the New Orleans Pelicans podcast presented
by seat Geek. Join us three times per week on
pelicans dot com, the Pelicans mobile app, or you can
(37:28):
subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. We'll see you next
time right here on the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast presented
by seat Geek
Welcome into the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast presented by Seat Geek,
a podcast dedicated to everything you need to know about
the squad. Pick at the Dice in Left Wing three.
He has had an outstanding evening, May it continue. That
is twelve points for Dice and Daniels, two below his
(00:25):
career high. He has not missed a shot. Tonight. The
New Orleans Pelicans podcast starts right now. Welcome to the
Pelicans Podcast presented by SeatGeek. I am Joe Cardosi, joined
by the irrepressible Jim Ikenhofer. Because you know what, Jim,
(00:48):
last night stung. I stopped checking Twitter once it started
just giving me the finger every time I checked it.
But you know what, let's just call this hashtag what
the hell happened Wednesday? Because I think you know all
Pelicans fans rup it was almost a playoff atmosphere in
the first quarter of that game really dwindled because the
fans didn't have much to root for after that first quarter.
(01:09):
But you know that the Kings are third in the
West for a reason. Yeah, and we questioned openly on
the podcast before, are we going to get their best
punch or they're gonna sort of Coast with their seating set. Well,
I think they answered we got their best punch. Yeah.
I think one of the biggest takeaways that I had
from Tuesday's game is, I mean, if you combine what
they did last night with the previous game that they
(01:32):
beat the Pelicans pretty handily out in Sacramento at the
beginning of the march, I mean, this team is legitimate.
People want to talk about how, you know, teams are
trying to position for the six seeds so that they'll
play Sacramento because the Kings look like they're very likely
to be number three and the Grizzlies are likely to
be number two. But I mean, based on the last
two times that New Orleans played them, there's no way
(01:53):
you can go into a matchup with them and being like, yeah,
this is the team we want to play. Because Sacramento
just looks really good, and we know that they have
the number one offense in the NBA. They actually, statistically,
I believe, are still on pace to have the best
offensive rating in the history of the NBA. So I mean,
this is not a team that you can just be like, yeah,
they've never done anything in the past, so therefore they're
no good this year, it's not true. I mean, their
(02:14):
record kind of speaks for itself. And just having Darren
Fox back in the lineup, I mean, what a difference
the guy gets to the basket. He's I mean, he
might be the fastest player in the NBA off the dribbles.
So he caused a lot of problems for New Orleans.
And as good as New Orleans defense has been lately,
they had a rough night last night. Yeah, it was tough.
I mean, he had twenty three points. It was the
Pelicans first time actually facing Darren Fox this season. He
(02:37):
was absent as we faced them before, and he proved
his worth. Also Keithan murray Man Wolf seven threes from him.
You know, the I guess the worst part of last
night was watching the King's plan of hey, let's lock
up BI and make other people score actually work. And
you don't want that to be a blueprint going forward
(03:00):
because brandon Ingram. You know, he had a fine night
twenty two points, but boy was it just sort of
an empty twenty two points. Yeah, and it was the
turnovers too. He had seven turnovers. I mean, he's had
some stretches lately that have been phenomenal in terms of
assisted turnover ratio. I think there was one two game
combination where he had twenty three assists in one turnover total,
(03:20):
So that was definitely out of character for him. But again,
you give the King's defense credit for that. They're not
a good defensive team there. They've been kind of bottom five,
bottom six. Yeah, I mean, talked about it all night. Basically,
the King's plan is we're not gonna play defense. We're
gonna hurry up and get out in transition and we're
gonna outscore. You can play defense if you want, We're
gonna score one point. Yeah. I mean when you mentioned
(03:40):
Kegan Murray, I mean the team, Sacramento team as a whole,
but him specifically. It just seemed like they had answers
so often. Every time the Pelicans maybe put together a
little floral run six two run or whatever, he would
come up and make a three, and it just seemed
like the Pelicans were never able to get that momentum going.
I mean, when you're at home and you're down ten
(04:01):
fifteen points in the second half, you expect to make
a run, but they never really did. And anytime they
put a little something together, it was either him or
you know, Harrison Barnes made some big shots. Malik Monk
was really good. Yeah. I mean they just have a
bunch of guys that just continued to come up with
with plays and it just it just by maybe I
(04:22):
want to say, early fourth quarter. I was like, this
isn't gonna happen tonight. They're not going to be able
to come back because they're just not Plicans were not
able to get enough stops on defense. I mean, Sacramento
went seventeen for forty two from three point range, and
that was a huge key to them getting this wine.
It seemed like even when we would score, they always
had a set of arms length. But you know, as
as we said, our Bi was our leading score once
(04:44):
again putting the team on his back as much as
he could. You know, Jim always a busy b He
was in the locker room as always after the game.
You along with the media pool caught up with Brandon
Ingram after the game, a bit deject, but he talked
about it and you, uh, we were talking about of
these games where you had big numbers wherever the turnover
(05:05):
was really a little they went on tonight. What did
they do? It just kind of make things just a
depicture more blur for you all there Uh sending double
T seven defense a little bit um and seven quarter
all um, Um a little slower h in my pace
slowed me down a little bit, trying to creating get
(05:27):
to the ram a little bit. But um they had
a connected defense where off the double teams that were
really really solid. How much was that the issues and
I just trying to match their paces just the way
they've been getting up and down the offense. Um, well
you know, um turnovers. Um, I played a big part
in the turnover um and them getting out of transition
(05:50):
and making threes. Um. It's hard to fight back when
you're shooting two especials threes or you don't get a
basket at all and then going down to scorn. So um,
it's kind of hard to fight back. It's the person
you've got something with, just with kind of the differences
he makes up there, he pushes that pace able to
(06:13):
get some easier shots in transition. Um and um he's
able to get to the ram and be effective and
in ways um that other guys on the team are
are Um him get into the basket and finishing him
gett into the basket and being able to play makes
us a different team. For the speaking of the threes,
(06:34):
seventeenmate threes for them, twenty two attempts for y'all know
the last couple of games, y'all haven't needed to necessarily
take a lot of threes to win the game, but
sometimes a little tough to keep up with that. Um,
what do you feel like? I guess they did well
or perhaps y'all need to do to bridge the gap
a little bit in terms of the day three ball.
Make sure they will get an attempts up. I'm not
(06:55):
sure trademarcer got enough night CJ. And also my self
when they give me, um, when they give me open
looks and when I'm on that three point line, I
gotta be able to take them. But all in the game,
I'm sure they looked at our last few games and
game playing and said, these guys don't take a lot
of three, so we're gonna clog to paint. There was
(07:17):
a game plan, so we gotta be aware of that
and be confident enough to take those shots. In Memphis
tomorrow will be another team that likes to protect the paint.
They got some protect us out there. Do you think
that they'll be important to perhaps adjusting to tomorrow's getting
get more attempts. Yeah, Um, offensively, we gotta get more
(07:37):
attempts on the three point line. Continue to be aggressive.
We have a really aggressive, aggressive team in the paint.
We can get paint points. But um, we gotta play
off our defense a little bit better tomorrow, playing off
our defense, trying to get in transition and trying to
get some easy buckets. I think, um, that will open
up the three points for our shoes. Great stuff there
(07:59):
from from Bi. It's just interesting, you know that that
was a that was a loss that it felt bad
because we just felt like we were coming into this
game like you gotta just win one and we're in.
You know, the fans wanted something to celebrate. But as
we talked about, the Kings now are Pacific Division winners
for the first time since two thousand and two, two
(08:21):
thousand and three, I believe, Uh so, look it meant
something to them. Yeah, we know something about that as
a team that is building towards something. Darreon Fox and
the rest of this talented team they've they've had to
sit in the gutter for a bit, and uh, you know,
they want to win. Yeah, it's funny when after the game,
when I saw a few people with their Pacific Division
(08:42):
champion shirts that they were wearing, I didn't even realize
that they had just won the I thought maybe it
was people that had those shirts from like a few
games ago, that they had already won it and they
just so happened to be wearing them at that moment.
So got some like it's a knockoff that was preprinted.
Yeah it was. I mean, it's it's funny. Like I've
talked about this a little bit here and there in
the past that I don't really like the fact that
(09:04):
they've de emphasized the divisions the way that they have
in the NBA, so that they don't really matter that
much because you have It's funny how this is a
whole other conversation, but the league has talked so much
in the last few years about adding other things that
are important to win besides just the championship. You know,
the whole rings culture thing has gotten annoying and people
don't like that. But that's why I say, why did
(09:24):
we de emphasize divisions Because at least, you know, back
when you know, there were only four divisions in the
NBA that might have been part of it, but it
was a legitimate achievement, and teams would put banners up
in their arena and people would say, like, that's awesome
that they won the division. You know, maybe they don't
go on to win their conference or the NBA championship, overall,
(09:45):
it's still something that you can look back at and
say that that was a good accomplishment. Now it's like
you don't even know when teams win a division. And
as evidence by the fact that I didn't even realize
that they had won it last night, and the shirts
didn't even tip me off to the idea that they
had just won it, because I thought maybe they had
done it previous previous games. So yeah, I'm glad to
(10:06):
see a small market team being able to celebrate something
they haven't been able to celebrate in twenty years. I
right that it's at our expense. They went into into
last night's game with a very definite plan, lockdown, brandon
Ingram and it meant something to them. Sure, And I
wouldn't be surprised if you know, they're human that they've
heard people talk about how you know they're a team
(10:26):
that doesn't have isn't really that feared. I'm sure they
want to prove it. They want to prove it to
people that, like, you know, we're a legitimate squad that
you're not gonna want to play during the playoffs. And
I mean, I've been impressed, very impressed by them the
last two times that they've played New Orleans, as well
as in other games that they've played that I've caught.
So I mean, like you said, it's good to see
(10:47):
a small market team be successful. And I feel really
good for their fans because their fans have gone through
so much and it's kind of the way I feel
a little bit to a lesser extent, but the same
kind of deal with Pelicans fans, like we we want
to see them get rewarded for the years of support
that they've had and how it hasn't been easy around here.
It's not like it's been a joy ride all of
(11:08):
the time. So I'm happy to see them light the beam.
I didn't like the fact that there were some fans
chanting light the beam in the smoothe King Center, but
I will say, god a little testy on the way out.
Some Pelicans fans were giving them a little hack and
I was like, hey, yeah, be nice. Yeah, I think
that was It was way more significant than in some
of their other road games that they've had, like when
(11:29):
they've and I'm sure some of it is geographically. Um
when they won a game against the Clippers, that was
a huge ovation and a huge light the beam it was.
It was kind of a sprinkling of light the beam.
It was nothing to get upset, just one guy. Go,
don't go yell at that. Guys, you know he's seven,
fell the braid, he's having his best time. But look
there there are reasons to to look ahead still with
(11:52):
optimism because look as we lost that game to a
very good team that was motivated. But today you wake up,
my blood is still in my veins or it belongs
and it's still when and we're in it's still that.
So there are still scenarios or gcenarios. We face the
Grizzlies tonight, we're facing the Timberwolves, the Knicks. Just gotta
(12:15):
take one of them. Jim and I feel like we
can start tonight. But but let's talk to Michael Wallace
from grind City Media. He's the Gym of Memphis, the
Gymphis on Grizzlies dot com and he's going to give
us the insider info, this scoop, if you will, on
the Grizzlies, our opponent tonight. So let's get to mister
(12:35):
Michael Wallace joining us on the Pelicans podcast. We are
facing the team tonight. Mister Michael Wallace, writer for grind
City Media. Michael, I know you're in New Orleans right now,
(12:56):
getting you know, settled in as y'all got in late.
How are you doing. How y'all feeling? Hey man, I'm
doing great. You know, this is the last three games
of the season. You know, we're in the season on
a three game road trips starting here in New Orleans,
second out of a back to back. You know, you
feel the legs, you feel the weight of the season.
But at the end of the day, you're looking forward
to you in the Grizzly situation, being able to take
(13:18):
care of these three games, get some time off during
the play in and watching everybody else dog fight it out,
and then you get to the playoffs to following weekend.
So we're in a good spot right now. I'm looking
for the two. Yeah, someday I would like to experience
that as well. Yeah, that's the time being it's gonna
be it's gonna be, like you said, Michael, it's going
to be a dog fight as far as trying to
figure out what seed the Pelicans are going to be.
(13:39):
You know, one of the things going into this game,
even going back maybe a few days or a week
or so, when people here looked ahead to this game
against Memphis, I think one of the biggest things that
people wondered about was what would Memphisis motivation be at
this point in the season. You know, we thought it
was possible by now that you would have the two
seed locked up, and you almost do, but not quite.
I mean, how do you think the Grizzly are? How
(14:01):
motivated are they right now to get that number two seed?
And you know, how do you think that they're going
to approach this specific game tonight. You know, it's it's
one of those deals because it's a back to back
and you know, with with with the job Morant coming
back to the team after his absence, he hasn't played
in back to back yet, and so it's it's kind
of he's not listed as out, like definitively out. These
(14:24):
guys are probably going to be closer to game time decisions.
You do have to manage their minutes, but you also
want to be respecting to the fact that you know
you can clinch your two wins. You need two wins
or a combination. You know that that with the Sacramento Kings,
a guy a team you guys just saw last night,
they're not letting up off the gas at all, right,
so they're still going. And so as long as that's
(14:45):
the case, you know, you want to preserve the right
and I think the Grizzies will be motivated to lock
in at the number two seeds to maximize their chances
to get home court through at least the first two
rounds of the playoffs because they have the best home
record in the league. They've already clinched that. Sof you're
going to do justice by that that, I do think
you have to show up the number two seeds as
best you can. It seems like one of the benefits
(15:07):
obviously if they can. You know, it's possible, like you
said even tonight, that they could clinch the two seed
if they win and Sacramento loses against Dallas, because that
would wrap it up and then you get to go
into the weekend where you're playing at Milwaukee in at
Oklahoma City and you don't have to worry about the
results because you already have that kind of locked in
and I know you're going to get some rest next
week anyways. But I mean, I'm sure it would be
(15:28):
beneficial to be in a situation where you don't have
to press any at all in those two last couple games.
So I'm sure that's a factor. You know. One of
the things that we're wondering about two is I mean,
it seems like Denver went through a stretch where they
were struggling a little bit, then they played a lot better,
and Memphis kind of had the same thing. I mean,
I know some of that is due to players that
were unavailable. You've had some key injuries as well, but
(15:51):
I mean, lately, over the last ten games, the Grizzlies
have the best record in the league at eight and two.
What do you think are you know, beyond some of
the obvious stuff, what do you think are some of
the reasons why they've been able to play so well
over this recent stretch pretty similarly to what New Orleans
has done. Yeah, I mean in New Orleans is just
one game back of that, I believe over the last ten.
So you know, you're you're looking at two teams that
(16:13):
you know and have found something, you know, coming out
of March and coming into April. And I know the
Pelicans have dropped a couple of years starting off April,
you know, including last night to Sacramento Kings. But I
think what's worked for the Grizzlies is they've been able
to find ball booming again. They've been able to play
and get into that twenty five plus assist territory. They've
(16:35):
been able to knock down threes with Luke Canard being
so comfortable right now, and when you have the combination
of Luke Canard and Desmond Banging both playing prolific basketball,
you've been able to allow Jomran to sort of work
his way back into his rhythm. And that's still an
ongoing process. When you miss nine games, that's a long
time to miss, especially when you talk about in a
(16:55):
short convention amount of time. So I think at the
three points, the assists and the ability to finally figure
out how to win on the road is what helped
the Grizzlies doing this stretch of you know, eight wins
in their last ten games, Because you know, the Chicago game. Notwithstanding,
on Sunday, they looked like they were ready to to really,
you know, sprint their way into this last stretch. Now
(17:18):
they had a bump in the road. This team still
kind of plays to the extremes. There was like three
straight games where they had you know, thirty and forty
point swings where they were either up by twenty and
lost by twenty or down by twenty and took the
league by twenty. And that you could play the you know,
a tale of They've been two different teams, sometimes within
the same quarter, and that's been an issue that Telligences
(17:41):
just wanted to ride out and solidify and stabilize. And
I think with Jarren being on the floor and being
available as a defender, a defensive anchor, that's the key.
In addition to the three point shooting and the ball
movements with the assists. Well, you know, the Pelicans have
been on the wrong side of some of those twenty
point swings as well. We faced the Warriors and you know,
we were looking good, it seemed like for the first
(18:03):
stretch of that game, and then they just wore us down.
You know, I wanted to make it with you sort
of an anti Draymond podcast, you know, sort of a
Draymond hate podcast, maybe because I actually found myself rooting
for Dylan Brooks, which look as a New Orleans fan.
You know, he knows he plays the heel. It's sometimes
hard to do. But when he was talking smack about Draymond,
(18:25):
I was like, preach, man, I think I'm I think
I'm a Dylan Brooks fan for now. But you know,
it seems like they have at least the same mindset.
Get into the opposing team's head, make them have to
account for you that mental weight that you can create
along with actually defending and being physical and such a
huge part of his game. I mean, you know, as
(18:47):
much as we love to hate on Draymond and honestly
Dylan Brooks over here because he's a pest that that's
a good things. He's a good player. You know, how
important is he to the identity of Memphis. It just
seems like Memphis, even from the outside looking in, you
look at them pretty tough, uh, And that's that's an
identity that comes from the inside out. It's not something
(19:08):
that was tacked on of the team. They made it themselves. Yeah,
I mean, you talk about the same kind of situation
with Ja Alvarado, right with the Ppelicans. I mean, he's
a guy that that that made his name being a
pesky under your skin nat Mosquito like defender, and he's
not afraid to get CHESTI with you and mouty with you. Right.
So you know, those are the kind of players that
(19:29):
you love when they're on your team, and you know,
the opposed posing fan bases and the opposing players kind
of despise having to go up against those guys every
single time. Um. The thing that makes Dylan Brooks special
is that he can do it on both and the floor.
You know, this hasn't been as great as shooting percentage
season by any stretch, but he's going to be a
competitor and he's not going to be afraid of the
(19:50):
big moment. And in a lot of ways, he sorted
the alpha dog defensively on this team. Jaren Jackson produces,
you know, the stats and the metrics and all those
kind of things, but the mindset and the tenacity starts
with Dylan Brooks being unafraid to take on the biggest
defensive perimeter challenges every single night. And so you know,
I got a lot of love and respect for both
Dylan and Draymond. I love when they were going back
(20:12):
and forth at each other. Yeah, I kind of cringe
when Draymond went nuclear on that podcast, when he basically
just lit into Dylan Brooks and what did Dylan Brooks
do come right back? Those two teams played a couple
of nights after and he went right up into Draymond's face,
and heither one of those guys got technical files. So
I think at the end of the day, that's something
that you look at and you say respect. You know,
(20:34):
recognizes respect, and it's one of those things where you're
seeing that. And I think what's made Dylan season this
year is the fact that he has gotten a response
directly from Draymond Green. He has gotten a response from
Donovan Mitchell, he has gotten a response from Kevin Durant.
Those guys recognize him because a few years ago they
didn't really know who Dylan Brooks was. That's got the
(20:54):
case anymore. He's made a name for himself in this league.
But now he has that going forward, whatever happens with
the best of his career. You know, speaking of the Warriors,
you know we mentioned earlier how the Grizzlies are in
a position right now where I mean, most likely they're
going to end up as the two seeds, So you're
going to end up playing the seven seed if that holds,
(21:15):
with the Memphis staying in second. Um as you as
you kind of monitor the race, and obviously even after
the seedings are completed, you're still not going to know
who you're playing, because it's going to depend on whoever
wins that seven eight playing game. But from the perspective
of Grizzlies fans, who who do you think that they
would want to face in the first round? I mean,
(21:36):
do you want another chance at Golden State? I mean,
there's a It's just it's so interesting. There's so many
different possibilities of who we fans have opinions, They we
fans have opinions, and quietly, I'm sure teams and players
and coaches, bass and all of that. Of course, either
with the last three two or three games left in
the season, there's still I want to say, six different
(21:57):
combinations of opponents that you can face as the two
seven right now, six different combinations Because of how things
are so convoluted right now, Um, you know, obviously this
could be a playoff preview. I really think when it's
all same done, it would be two seven and where
it is today, you know what I mean. I think
the Pelicans are still in the seventh spot. Um. And
(22:18):
if they get a win and win, you know, and
they host a home game and win that home game,
I think we could easily be seeing these two teams
matching up a weekend, you know, in two weekends starting
off the first round of the series. Um, I think
that would be you know, a Grizzlies fans want the
most comfortable first round upon it to day to find it.
There's no disrespect to the Pelicans because as a healthy team,
(22:41):
the Pelicans gave the Grizzlies. Fitch and how I'm going
back and forth. When you have Zion eliminated from the equation.
You know, even though you know Bi and and different guys,
you know, Yllness is doing this thing again. And you
know you guys got a slew of wing you know,
long ranging wing defenders and shooters. Um, Zion as different
dynamic to it. He's a different beast to prepare. If
(23:03):
he's done, yeah, yes, right and if if he if
he's not, if you can't say for show he's going
to be there for the first round, then yes, that
would be a favorable matchup for the Grizzlies. If uh
if if what you don't want? Theoretically, I think if
Grizzlies stays, they would cringe at the Lakers in the
first round, and and some of them would cringe at
Golden State the Lakers for the reason that if you
(23:24):
get Anthony Davis and Lebron James in the series, they're
going to slow the ball down. The Grizzies had struggled
with half fourt offense um from that standpoint, and you
got to know that the pressure will be to give
the Lakers, you know, as far as you can get
the Lakers in that situation, and you know, so that
would be uncomfortable. But at the end of the day,
the Grizzies don't really fear anybody any matchup. I think
(23:45):
they do. Personally, I think that they do. I want
to get that that Golden State demon off their back
one way or another so they can align where they
have to get past Golden State. That's something that these
players want to do just from a competitive standpoint. So
it's it's going to be into to see. There's so
much that can happen between now and Sunday's games in
terms of the seedings and the standings that you just
(24:06):
got to be prepared for any number of combination. Well,
the one thing I can guarantee you is that if
the two seven is Memphis versus the Lakers. Maybe I'll
just speak for myself, but I will be waving my
Grizzlies flag. I will be a lot of Grizzlies fans
in New Orleans if y'all face the Lakers, I was
about to say, And everybody's like, you know, and that's
the thing, man, It's it's fun actually, you know, no
(24:27):
matter what happens, it's fun that there's actually like a
rivalry budding here in this division because as a team
that's been often overlooked as the Pelicans, y'all know what
it's like too, is the Grizzlies seeing the Sacramento Kings
get their moment in the sun, even though it was
at our expense. You know, it's just nice to see
some of these small market teams that a lot of
people kind of have snickered at in the past actually
(24:49):
making some hay and having to be accounted for. You know,
I think the division you know now the divisions two
times the Southwest Division champions I mean the division is
better when you know when New Orleans is strong and
when Houston is playing for something. Obviously San Antonio Hill
has a tradition in the history in Dallas has won
the championship too, So the division has kind of flipped
a little bit. But you're right when you look at
(25:10):
these standings in the West, a lot of teams that
have been overlooked are going to be major players. Denver,
that's fly over Country. We talked about that before. You know,
Memphis isn't in the situation. You know, Oklahoma City can
still make some noise in there, you know, So Sacramento
is in there. So all of these teams that hadn't
gotten a lot of postseason attention and love, we'll be
front and center with this Western Conference playoff race. And
(25:32):
it's gonna be fun to see. It's it's it's been
a fun thing to see shake out. You know, it's
it's all getting crazy, man. So we're gonna scrap it
out and it's gonna be a fun game tonight. We're
just looking forward to a good one and we'll see
you then, man, absolutely see you guys tonight. Thanks for
having me big thanks to Michael Wallace of grind City Media.
(25:56):
Give him a follow at my Mike check m I case.
You can read his articles over at Grizzlies dot com.
You know, Jim So, we faced the Grizzlies tonight, But
there's a bunch of meaningful games on the slate tonight
for a bunch of teams. As we've talked about a
million billion times, the West is so fluid and between
(26:16):
tonight and tomorrow, between the meaningful games for us and
just fun games to watch, there's so many to check
out beyond what the Pelicans are doing. Yeah, I think
after the Pelicans game tonight ends against Memphis, people are
probably going to turn their TV's onto the La versus
LA showdown. That's probably might be the biggest game of
the rest of the week and much hyped game Western Conference.
(26:39):
Yeah for sure. I mean, you've got Russell Westbrook going
up against his old friends and teammates with the Lakers,
so he's going to have vengeance and blood on his mind.
I'm looking for good against us man. He has not
been looking bad since he left the Lake Show. And
you know, as interesting as it was, as I guess
I was as much of a bummer as it was
to watch the Lakers pull out that game last night.
(27:01):
Interesting to watch them get stretched into overtime. You know,
Lebron himself talking about how those minutes aren't going to
help the team. And now they're facing a Clippers team
who is on three days of rest, and they've had
this one circled on their calendar for a while. It
means something. So you know that this is gonna be
a real test of the Lakers that everyone seems to
(27:22):
be fearing and talking about how much hey they can
make if they get in the playoffs. We'll see tonight, man. Yeah.
By the way, Kendrick Perkins on NBA today, I'm sure
a lot of people saw this yesterday they said, give
us a perk centage of what chances the Lakers have
to win the West and he said one hund So
(27:43):
what is going on? Wow? And well we know the
mathematician Kendrick Perkins is always correct and has no sort
of loyalty to anyone on that. No, no, none, none,
But yeah, I mean, I look, I think it's gonna
be an interesting game to watch. And then you got
ings Mavericks. We just saw what the Kings did to us.
And look, if the Mavericks lose that game, they're in real,
(28:06):
real trouble, and that would be very good for us. Yeah,
if the Mavericks lose, I mean, let's talk specifically about
how it pertains to the Pelicans and then I'll go
out from there. If the Mavericks or thunder lose a
game one more game, the Pelicans at least clinch a
play in birth. The Pelicans can do it themselves by
just winning tonight. If they win the ways Memphis, we
(28:26):
don't have to worry about an eighties scenarios. But nonetheless,
obviously the New Orleans is extremely close to at least
clinching that part, which is the first step just get
in to the postseason and have a play in spot.
So yeah, that that part of it. But the Mavericks
are a half game behind Okay C. But OKAYC has
(28:48):
the tiebreaker. Oklahoma City's in tenth place, so that if
the Mavericks really need every single win that they can get,
if they go three and oz in their last three,
Okay C could still knock them out by winning twice.
But m Dallas just long story short, Dallas is in
a position where they have no margin for error to
extend their season beyond Sunday, when everyone closes with Game
(29:11):
eighty two. So that's uh that that's something to watch
as well. Hopefully we don't have to worry about that
that game starts at seven thirty. The Pelicans, hopefully with
a seven o'clock game, will have already notched to win
before that. Dallas came down to stress and UM. But overall,
I mean, unfortunately, Tuesday night, you know, we talked about
how great the weekend was, and we went through all
(29:32):
of the different teams that went oh into and lost
games and helped the Pelicans. Tuesday unfortunately was really yeah,
and I think it was it was frustrating a little
bit too. I think I'm sure a lot of fans
would probably feel the same way. That it wasn't just
that some of these other teams won, it was that
it was so in doubt and you're thinking, you know,
(29:52):
Lakers might lose this game to Utah. They ended up
pulling it out. The Warriors were down in the fourth
quarter to Oklahoma City, they ended up winning. UM. The
Tea Wolves game came down to like the last possession
that they were able to win, and that was I mean, well,
I'm sure we'll get into this even further on Friday's show,
but um, Minnesota win was so monumental in terms of
(30:13):
their race with the Pelicans, because now it's almost definitely
going to come down to that last game in terms
of who finishes ahead between New Orleans and Minnesota. There's
a million other tiebreakers and teams that could be involved.
I don't want to like hurt my brain and everyone
else's by doing that, but I mean suffice to say
that if Minnesota wins Saturday at San Antonio, it's definitely
going to come down to Sunday, regardless of what the
(30:35):
Pelicans do, just based on the math and the tiebreaker
that the season series with them is one one. So
I mean, it's going to almost definitely be decided on
Sunday afternoon. I was hoping that the Pelicans could avoid that,
but the combination of Minnesota winning last night and the
Pelicans losing made it kind of it's kind of it's
almost a fore gone complete squint at that sixth seed. Yeah,
(30:55):
now in the in the in terms of the sixth seed,
I mean, what's interesting with that is, as we mentioned,
the Clippers are playing the Lakers. One of those teams
has to lose and they'll that'll be their thirty ninth loss.
Pelicans I have thirty nine losses right now. If Pelicans
win tonight and the Clippers lose, the Pelicans will move
ahead of them. They'll still be behind the Lakers. But
(31:16):
so I don't I'm not. I definitely not gonna sit
here and say, yah, you should root for the Lakers,
but that would be beneficial in terms of at least
you get someone else to do it. Go on some
website and outsource it. Just pay a guy to root
for the Lakers, just for the juju and look. And
then tomorrow the okac is facing Utah and we just
saw the Jazz. They took the title from Portland for
(31:36):
just putting guys out there. They had people on the
on the court that had just some dude on the
back of their jersey and gave LA the Lakers all
they could take. And now they're gonna be facing the
Oklahoma City Thunder. You never know what's gonna happen in
that game. Again. You just you gotta watch how the
plank go. Things fall. But all you can hope to
(31:57):
do is win your games and hope for the best
with those. But and then Nuggets Suns. That's not gonna
really affect seating. It's just gonna be a fun game
to watch. Yeah, I mean, Phoenix is still undefeated as
we go into Wednesday, when Kevin Durant plays, I believe
it's six and oo now. So they have played mostly
against teams that are kind of either lower tier or
kind of middle of the pack, So this is definitely,
(32:19):
you know, maybe their biggest tests so far. I'm not
sure what Yokihi's status is, but that'll be an interesting
game as well, just from the standpoint of, you know,
trying to stay unbeaten. They put the Suns potentially could
have the weirdest entrance to a postseason ever where they
make a major trade but the guy that they get
only plays like nine games before the playoffs and then
it's like, okay, now play the biggest games of the season.
(32:41):
I mean they would luck Yeah, they've been good, they've
been great so far. Obviously he's been there before, right,
It's just so unique though, it's such a weird position
to be in that they might have no absolutely and look,
speaking of being in a weird position. We don't know.
When you're listening to this podcast, we're recording it about
ten in the morning. So if you're asking, why are
they not talking about Zion, we don't know. We don't
(33:02):
know what's going to break. So as we are recording this,
no Zion news has come down. So it's not that
we're just avoiding talking about Zion. It's that we don't
have anything for you right now as we're recording this.
And also too, I mean along the same lines, as
we record this, I'll be waiting for the injury report
from Memphis that they're going to put out. The NBA
(33:24):
has a rule that on the second game of a
back to back, which applies both teams Grizzlies and Pelicans today,
they have to submit their injury list before one pm.
So we'll be getting that, you know, early afternoon as
we sit here and record this too. We don't know
in terms of is Memphis going to have a couple
of guys sit Are they going to list some guys
as you know, questionable or doubtful. We're gonna have to
(33:45):
all wait and find that out. I mean, that could
have a big effect as well on Wednesday's game in
terms of you know, it's definitely possible that they could
have a couple of guys rest and not have them
play the second game of a back to back. Yeah.
So yeah, we're not trying to be Kyle's over here.
We just don't have anything for you, we promise. I
actually had it circled Zion Day as the podcast topic,
(34:07):
but nothing yet. So we will see and our fingers
tosed everything we can possibly anatomically crossed. We have crossed
right now, we promise you. Hey. But by the way,
before we get out of here, Dyson looking good. Man.
It's nice to see Dyson continuing to uh, you know,
sort of get on that upward tick. He had twelve
points last night and just continuing to look improved and
(34:29):
to get his confidence back. Glad to see Dyson looking
pretty good. Yeah. I think he could be an elemental
piece to whatever they do in the playing tournament and
or the playoffs. Hopefully we get to see the Pelicans there.
I mean, he could be a key rotation piece. He
was four for four from the field last night, only
thirteen minutes. He scored twelve points. Like you mentioned, that
(34:50):
was actually the most points that he's had in a
game since November when he had double figures. He had
fourteen points against Toronto on November thirty. So, I mean,
we don't really look to him as the guy that,
you know, go out there and get a bunch of
spark of all fans. Yeah, but it's really helpful to
have him be able to make some open shots just
to be a threat, just to be a legitimate threat
(35:11):
so that people have to guard him somewhat. Yeah, So
that was one plus definitely from the game last night.
There weren't a whole lot of them, but that was
good to see him play well, like he said, And
he's been a positive element of the last few games
and he's been a positive plus minus in four of
the last five games. So doing a nice job in
the minutes that he's been out there, and hopefully just
(35:33):
see him continue to keep that up. Absolutely, we just
want to see the kid hold his head up high
and continue playing well. And let's continue playing well ourselves.
We want the Pelicans to win this game again. Win
and we're in Whin and we're in Whin and we're
in Whin and we're in I woke up screaming at Jim,
but I can't stop saying it. Jim, thanks for guiding
me on this rough day. You know, it's such a
(35:55):
confusing day. So much has happened. The roller coaster continues. Man,
we're high, We're low, We're hi, We're low. Today I
sort of didn't know where to be. Jim took me
by the arm as I was wandering in circles in
the parking lot and told me the news and set
me straight. Thanks man, Yeah, no problem. I mean, I
think we should look at this like, you know, we're
we're on the downward part of the roller coaster because
(36:16):
of the loss last night, But I think we'll have
a much brighter tone on Friday. If Wednesday night against
Memphis as a victory. Yeah, I mean if the Pelican
big picture, if the Pelicans can win these next couple
of games, I think they will Sunday is gonna be
almost definitely a huge monumental game, but they'll be in
better position if they can win these next couple going
into that. Yes, let's keep riding the roller coaster. Pelicans fans, Hey,
(36:41):
I will be there tonight. Go say hi to the
man in the window when you're walking into the Smoothie
Kink Center. That's me in the radio studio along with
Gus Cat Gill. Sometimes we'll even catch a glimpse of
jim I Canhoffer. If you can see through the flashbulbs,
pop it at you. But we will be there tonight.
Go to the Smoothie Kinks Center loud. We want you
out there in playoff form. We will talk to you
(37:05):
once again on Friday, hopefully jovial as hell. And until then,
thanks for listening to the New Orleans Pelicans podcast presented
by seat Geek. Join us three times per week on
pelicans dot com, the Pelicans mobile app, or you can
(37:28):
subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. We'll see you next
time right here on the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast presented
by seat Geek
Host
Jim Eichenhofer
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