3 Key Takeaways From Pelicans Game 2 Victory Over Suns
After claiming the 8-seed via the Western Conference Play-In Tournament and drawing a matchup with the 1-seeded Phoenix Suns in the first-round of the playoffs, nobody was giving the New Orleans Pelicans a chance to advance.
Well, the Pelicans almost came from behind to beat the Suns in Game 1 against the Suns and on Tuesday night, the Pelicans looked extremely strong against Phoenix, winning 125-114 to even this series at one game apiece heading to New Orleans for the next two games.
The Pelicans have to be very happy with winning one of the first two games of this series in Phoenix and now with two straight home games, there is a good chance that they could either pull ahead in this series or be tied heading back to Phoenix for Game 5 next week.
Brandon Ingram, CJ McCollum and Jonas Valanciunas deserve a lot of credit for lifting the Pelicans to a Game 2 victory, but first-year head coach Willie Green has done a fantastic job game planning against the Phoenix Suns, his former team.
We learned a lot from the Pelicans’ Game 2 victory over the Suns and now, we have a series in a first-round matchup that many thought would be a four-game sweep in favor of Phoenix.
Mikal Bridges Needs to Guard Brandon Ingram
Brandon Ingram has been spectacular so far in this series against the Phoenix Suns, scoring 18 points in Game 1 and then 37 points in Game 2.
While Ingram is a fantastic player and an All-Star in his own right, the main reason he is finding a lot of success against Phoenix right now is because the Suns are guarding him incorrectly.
Mikal Bridges is a finalist for Defensive Player of the Year and he has been one of the best perimeter defenders in the league all year long out on the wing. Standing 6’6” with a 7’1” wingspan, Bridges has caused a headache for some of the best scorers in the league this season due to what he does on the defensive-end of the floor.
So far, Mikal Bridges’ assignment has been guarding CJ McCollum, but Monty Williams and the Suns’ coaching staff really need to think about putting Bridges on Ingram simply because the Pelicans’ All-Star just torched Jae Crowder, Cameron Johnson and the other forwards that tried to stay with him. In this series, Brandon Ingram has made just one shot against Mikal Bridges and that came in Game 2 on Tuesday night.
The Pelicans are not a great offensive team, but if Brandon Ingram gets going on the offensive-end of the floor, they can be very deadly scoring the ball because of CJ McCollum and Jonas Valanciunas being factors as well.
Putting Mikal Bridges on Brandon Ingram is not going to take Ingram out of the equation for New Orleans, but his options on offense will be more limited than they were in Game 2 and there is no way that he would be able to score 37 points against Bridges.
Brandon Ingram’s play in Game 2 certainly stands out and the 24-year-old is emerging as a top-tier scorer in this league, but a top-tier defender like Mikal Bridges could definitely take the ball and game out of Ingram’s hands, forcing someone else on New Orleans' roster to beat the Suns.
Phoenix Needs to be Better on the Glass
A surprising factor in this series so far has been the way the New Orleans Pelicans have attacked the glass on both ends of the floor, particularly big man Jonas Valanciunas.
Through two games, Valanciunas has racked up 38 total rebounds, 16 of which have come on the offensive-end of the floor. The Pelicans as a whole have outrebounded the Suns 98-68 through the first two games of this series.
Something needs to change heading into Game 3 for the Suns in terms of rebounding because the Pelicans have been getting way too many second-chance opportunities. In fact, the Pelicans have 35 offensive rebounds so far in this series against Phoenix!
Being one of the better rebounding teams in the league this season, it is expected that New Orleans would have a slight edge in this series on the glass, but the Suns do need to make some adjustments when shots go up because they are having trouble boxing the Pelicans out.
As seen in the clips from Game 2 above, the Pelicans were just more aggressive going for offensive rebounds and the Suns never really seemed to be too physical with them.
Jaxson Hayes and Jonas Valanciunas are two strong rebounders, but in parts of Game 2, it did not even seem like the Suns were trying to box them out!
If the Pelicans can continue finding success rebounding on both ends of the floor, particularly on the offensive-end, then they may very well be able to win another game or two in this series.
Rebounding is a flaw of the Suns right now that must get fixed if they are to be a true championship contender.
The Suns’ Offense Struggles Without Devin Booker
Devin Booker left Game 2 with right hamstring tightness that was later ruled to be a mild right hamstring strain. His status moving forward for the rest of this series is definitely questionable, which is why the Suns could be in a bit of trouble.
At times, the Suns can get into “funks” offensively and while they put up a good fight in the fourth quarter of Game 2, Phoenix was missing that “go-to” scoring option they always seem to have with Devin Booker.
Chris Paul is going to have to step into this role in the absence of Booker, but how do you replace a guy that scored 25 points and then 31 points in back-to-back playoff games?
The answer is you don’t!
There is no replacing Devin Booker for the Suns and this directly ties back to the idea of tightening things up defensively on Brandon Ingram and zeroing-in on stopping Jonas Valanciunas and Jaxson Hayes on the offensive glass.
These two things directly correlated to the Suns’ loss in Game 2 and with Booker potentially out for Games 3 and 4 on the road, Phoenix’s offensive production is going to plummet.
Defense is where the Suns now need to improve upon the rest of this series, especially if they want to avoid going down 1-2 or 1-3 in the series to the Pelicans.
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