New Orleans (47 - 35)

Expert Pick
100% ····················>< 0%

Sacramento (38 - 44)

Playoff Pels V Play-In Kings


Week 15 is upon us and the race for spots in the playoffs is well and truly heated up as we head to the trade deadline this week and we see the silly season of vets making shit tonnes of cash being sat down the stretch as NBA teams give up on their seasons. Out West we have a key match up here with the inconsistent Pelicans heading to meet the previously streaking Sacramento Kings who are locked in a play-in battle. The ramifications can be huge in this game as a Pels loss could see then dip to 7^th, while the Kings are only just holding on to that Play in 10^th. The Pelicans: The Pels have been marred by injury this year with Luka Doncic sitting on the sidelines for a lengthy period alongside Aaron Gordon and they’ve had to dig deep at times to keep themselves in this deep playoff hunt. Randle was sent out, despite carrying them for periods, and Grayson too. Camara was given up on but has now come back to haunt his former GM and now we see Rudy Gobert take a seat again too. They just need that break where they see everyone on the court for an extended period, and maybe that time will be the playoffs? They’re still a 34-24 team, great record, and 4^th in the West with potential to be even higher given they have done this without the names mentioned above, and down the stretch as long as Luka is on the court then anything can happen, truly. They have the potency to beat down on any team and they have the defensive side of the ball, too, when they are healthy and we might just see some playoff upsets if they can get a high enough spot to really put pressure on a West that is far more open than it has been in the past few years. Can the pesky Kings dint that hope? The Kings: The Kings have been playing catch up all year in the finance department after they didn’t make the most of being above the high water mark early on and it’s meant that Klemm hasn’t been able to make his customary shuffling moves to try and adjust. For a period there, this looked like a blessing in disguise as the Kings were the fairytale team reeling off 11 wins in a row despite requesting a replacement C player every single week of the year and carrying only 13 players all year. They have been mostly lucky with injuries if you discount Mitch Robinson, whom they traded for while already injured, although FVV is out this week and their incumbent starting C all year has been shelved for portions recently, too. Klemm though dabbled around with what he had at his disposal instead of shooting himself in the foot and really got that team flying. Unfortunately, it also collapsed nearly as hard as it rose as they have now only won a single game from their last 11. Yes. They’re 1-10 in the last 11, but 12-10 of their last 22. So which Sactown shows up this week as they now only cling to the last play in spot by 1 game after it looked like they might strike gold and rise into the genuine playoff spots for a while there. If you take out the win streak, this same team is still only 15-32 on the year, which is a stark difference, but Klemm will always go for gold and this bunch seem to have connected, at least at times. Go back to that win streak Klemm! Use that line up and settings combo! (Disclaimer: Doesn’t know if he changed off that line up and/or playbook.) The Projected Match-Ups: C: Chris Boucher Vs Mitchell Robinson With Gobert missing, Boucher is thrown into the fire as the starting C in New Orleans for the first time. He started all his games in Portland earlier this year averaging 8 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocks per game, but it’s a different regime in New Orleans. He gets the season debut game from Mitch Robinson as the match up here and this means it could be literally anything. He played 1 preseason game, for Milwaukee, which saw him have 6 points and 5 rebounds, but he’s likely to be bigger than that in a Klemm scheme against a softer opponent like Boucher. PF: DeAndre Hunter Vs Cameron Johnson Hunter has started all games he’s played for the Pels after coming over from Cleveland, and he’s been much more proficient in a Pelicans team that required more scoring than his role in Cleveland. 14 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal per game in New Orleans and he’s a much more proficient defender than Randle was, too. He gets the easy match up with Cam Johnson in this one. Cam has started 29 of 33 games he’s played for the Kings and averaged only 9 points and 6 rebounds. If he’s not scoring, what is he doing out there for you? Hunter should be all over this match up. SF: Garrison Mathews Vs Bogdan Bogdanovic The Pels love running a role player who can shoot at the 3, with Gordon out, and Mathews has unfortunately had to play that role a number of weeks this year. 9 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists per game as a starter and 47% from deep. He’s slow like molasses for a smaller guy though and will be beat up on defence if the D can target him. Bogdan will do just that. The Kings going run and gun, and Bog has averaged 21 a game this year in that role with 4 rebounds and 2 assists. He’s going to feast on Mathews, you’d imagine. SG: Russell Westbrook Vs Christian Braun Westy has been a picture of consistency this year in whatever role he has been required to play, and he’s been maybe best as that starting off guard, too. He only shifted there this week but in 2 games this week he’s already pouring in 27 points a night. As a starter at PG he only averaged 16 points, so this is a great result so far. He’ll get the defensive minded Braun on him, but that might not slow him much as Braun probably goes to Luka, leaving Westy to beat up Herro or Bog. Braun meanwhile has started most the year, and mostly at this SG spot where he’s been quiet, not yet ready for the NSL break out, averaging 6 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists. He’ll try play a role on Luka you imagine but that’s a tall order. PG: Luka Doncic Vs Tyler Herro Luka has not missed a beat this year when on the court even though quicker types tend to be favoured. He has averaged 31 a night with 6 rebounds and 5 assists and leads this well rounded team from the front. They need his scoring and he might be the difference every time they step out. He’ll probably get the defensive match up from Braun, but if he gets Herro, he’s going to have his way, even if Herro might do the same back. Herro has averaged 26 a night as a starting PG with 4 rebounds and 5 assists, and he’s all set for an even bigger workload next season too. No FVV means less minutes eaten from him, too. Bench V Bench: Spencer Dinwiddie, Quinten Post, Torrey Craig, Tyus Jones, Karlo Matkovic Vs Kyle Anderson, Gary Trent Jnr, Marcus Sasser, Alex Reese, Kyshawn Geroge, Same Hauser Both benches have their highs and lows. The Pels Dinwiddie and the Kings Trent will carry the scoring workloads in true fashion. Rookie big men everywhere in Post, Matkovic and Reese. The experience of Jones and Craig compared to Sasser and Anderson might just be the difference in impact.

Week 15 is upon us and the race for spots in the playoffs is well and truly heated up as we head to the trade deadline this week and we see the silly season of vets making shit tonnes of cash being sat down the stretch as NBA teams give up on their seasons. Out West we have a key match up here with the inconsistent Pelicans heading to meet the previously streaking Sacramento Kings who are locked in a play-in battle. The ramifications can be huge in this game as a Pels loss could see then dip to 7^th, while the Kings are only just holding on to that Play in 10^th.

The Pelicans:

The Pels have been marred by injury this year with Luka Doncic sitting on the sidelines for a lengthy period alongside Aaron Gordon and they’ve had to dig deep at times to keep themselves in this deep playoff hunt. Randle was sent out, despite carrying them for periods, and Grayson too. Camara was given up on but has now come back to haunt his former GM and now we see Rudy Gobert take a seat again too. They just need that break where they see everyone on the court for an extended period, and maybe that time will be the playoffs? They’re still a 34-24 team, great record, and 4^th in the West with potential to be even higher given they have done this without the names mentioned above, and down the stretch as long as Luka is on the court then anything can happen, truly. They have the potency to beat down on any team and they have the defensive side of the ball, too, when they are healthy and we might just see some playoff upsets if they can get a high enough spot to really put pressure on a West that is far more open than it has been in the past few years. Can the pesky Kings dint that hope?

The Kings:

The Kings have been playing catch up all year in the finance department after they didn’t make the most of being above the high water mark early on and it’s meant that Klemm hasn’t been able to make his customary shuffling moves to try and adjust. For a period there, this looked like a blessing in disguise as the Kings were the fairytale team reeling off 11 wins in a row despite requesting a replacement C player every single week of the year and carrying only 13 players all year. They have been mostly lucky with injuries if you discount Mitch Robinson, whom they traded for while already injured, although FVV is out this week and their incumbent starting C all year has been shelved for portions recently, too. Klemm though dabbled around with what he had at his disposal instead of shooting himself in the foot and really got that team flying. Unfortunately, it also collapsed nearly as hard as it rose as they have now only won a single game from their last 11. Yes. They’re 1-10 in the last 11, but 12-10 of their last 22. So which Sactown shows up this week as they now only cling to the last play in spot by 1 game after it looked like they might strike gold and rise into the genuine playoff spots for a while there. If you take out the win streak, this same team is still only 15-32 on the year, which is a stark difference, but Klemm will always go for gold and this bunch seem to have connected, at least at times. Go back to that win streak Klemm! Use that line up and settings combo! (Disclaimer: Doesn’t know if he changed off that line up and/or playbook.)

The Projected Match-Ups:

C: Chris Boucher Vs Mitchell Robinson

With Gobert missing, Boucher is thrown into the fire as the starting C in New Orleans for the first time. He started all his games in Portland earlier this year averaging 8 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocks per game, but it’s a different regime in New Orleans. He gets the season debut game from Mitch Robinson as the match up here and this means it could be literally anything. He played 1 preseason game, for Milwaukee, which saw him have 6 points and 5 rebounds, but he’s likely to be bigger than that in a Klemm scheme against a softer opponent like Boucher.

PF: DeAndre Hunter Vs Cameron Johnson

Hunter has started all games he’s played for the Pels after coming over from Cleveland, and he’s been much more proficient in a Pelicans team that required more scoring than his role in Cleveland. 14 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal per game in New Orleans and he’s a much more proficient defender than Randle was, too. He gets the easy match up with Cam Johnson in this one. Cam has started 29 of 33 games he’s played for the Kings and averaged only 9 points and 6 rebounds. If he’s not scoring, what is he doing out there for you? Hunter should be all over this match up.

SF: Garrison Mathews Vs Bogdan Bogdanovic

The Pels love running a role player who can shoot at the 3, with Gordon out, and Mathews has unfortunately had to play that role a number of weeks this year. 9 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists per game as a starter and 47% from deep. He’s slow like molasses for a smaller guy though and will be beat up on defence if the D can target him. Bogdan will do just that. The Kings going run and gun, and Bog has averaged 21 a game this year in that role with 4 rebounds and 2 assists. He’s going to feast on Mathews, you’d imagine.

SG: Russell Westbrook Vs Christian Braun

Westy has been a picture of consistency this year in whatever role he has been required to play, and he’s been maybe best as that starting off guard, too. He only shifted there this week but in 2 games this week he’s already pouring in 27 points a night. As a starter at PG he only averaged 16 points, so this is a great result so far. He’ll get the defensive minded Braun on him, but that might not slow him much as Braun probably goes to Luka, leaving Westy to beat up Herro or Bog. Braun meanwhile has started most the year, and mostly at this SG spot where he’s been quiet, not yet ready for the NSL break out, averaging 6 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists. He’ll try play a role on Luka you imagine but that’s a tall order.

PG: Luka Doncic Vs Tyler Herro

Luka has not missed a beat this year when on the court even though quicker types tend to be favoured. He has averaged 31 a night with 6 rebounds and 5 assists and leads this well rounded team from the front. They need his scoring and he might be the difference every time they step out. He’ll probably get the defensive match up from Braun, but if he gets Herro, he’s going to have his way, even if Herro might do the same back. Herro has averaged 26 a night as a starting PG with 4 rebounds and 5 assists, and he’s all set for an even bigger workload next season too. No FVV means less minutes eaten from him, too.

Bench V Bench:

Spencer Dinwiddie, Quinten Post, Torrey Craig, Tyus Jones, Karlo Matkovic
Vs
Kyle Anderson, Gary Trent Jnr, Marcus Sasser, Alex Reese, Kyshawn Geroge, Same Hauser

Both benches have their highs and lows. The Pels Dinwiddie and the Kings Trent will carry the scoring workloads in true fashion. Rookie big men everywhere in Post, Matkovic and Reese. The experience of Jones and Craig compared to Sasser and Anderson might just be the difference in impact.

Pelicans Star

Luka Doncic
Luka is the life blood of the Pels and his scoring is paramount. He’s the most important guy on the court for them as while Westbrook can score, and they have the right types in Dinwiddie and Jones on the bench, too, they aren’t as consistent and Luka and he’s the #1 option all day long.

PPG 30.7

RPG 5.5

APG 4.9

SPG 0.9

BPG 0.4

FPG 2.4

TPG 1.9

PPG 27.3

RPG 4.4

APG 4.1

SPG 0.6

BPG 0.1

FPG 1.2

TPG 1.5

Kings Star

Tyler Herro
Herro has been the boon for the Kings this year and leads the way in the high octane potent offence which carried this squad to one of the largest win streaks this year. They need that again and they need Tyler scoring 30+.

X-Factor
- The XFactor in this one isn’t so much a stat, or who is playing, it’s who isn’t. Rudy Gobert. What does that mean in the break down of the game? And how does it pair with the debut of Mitch Robinson? These questions are the deciding factor. Mitch’s debut pails if Gobert is playing, but he’s not, so does Mitch come in and dominate? We don’t even know what to expect from the big man, but he’s going to have every opportunity without Rudy to be THE big man in this one.

X-Factor

- The XFactor in this one isn’t so much a stat, or who is playing, it’s who isn’t. Rudy Gobert. What does that mean in the break down of the game? And how does it pair with the debut of Mitch Robinson? These questions are the deciding factor. Mitch’s debut pails if Gobert is playing, but he’s not, so does Mitch come in and dominate? We don’t even know what to expect from the big man, but he’s going to have every opportunity without Rudy to be THE big man in this one.

Injury Report
Injured Players: Yuki Kawamura (Shoulder/Hamstring) - 5 NBA Games missed this season Charles Bassey (Knee) - 15 NBA Games missed this season Grant Williams (Knee Acl) - 51 NBA Games missed this season Fred VanVleet (Hamstring/Knee/Personal/Ankle) - 19 NBA Games missed this season Returning Players: Mitchell Robinson (returning from Ankle) - 58 NBA Games missed this season	Injured Players: Bennedict Mathurin (Illness/Wrist) - 5 NBA Games missed this season Kai Jones (Quad) - 5 NBA Games missed this season Tre Mann (Back/Injury Management) - 53 NBA Games missed this season Aaron Gordon (Calf/Injury Management/Ankle) - 29 NBA Games missed this season Rudy Gobert (Back) - 9 NBA Games missed this season

Prediction
Head to Head Prediction: It’s going to be a battle. The missing Gobert on top of Gordon is going to bring this game back to closer than you might expect as Mitch should be the dominant big man on the court with all PFs also being only outside paint guys. This should be a massive positive for the Kings, but will it be enough? Pels by 2.

Prediction

Head to Head Prediction:

It’s going to be a battle. The missing Gobert on top of Gordon is going to bring this game back to closer than you might expect as Mitch should be the dominant big man on the court with all PFs also being only outside paint guys. This should be a massive positive for the Kings, but will it be enough?

Pels by 2.

		Comments (2)
Nenjabin 03/19 08:38 pm	Big Mitch!
KLEMMELO 03/18 01:52 am	Elite write up OG! Super excited for this one… As much as I don’t like to take any Joy from catching “El Capitan’” boys some what crippled… I’ll pretty much take whatever I can get at this stage Shrugs Good luck Leeroy-Son!

	NO	110
	OKC	103

	MIN	114
	UTAH	107

	IND	91
	CLE	108

	MIL	121
	TOR	120

	OKC	101
	NO	93