Pelicans Scoop

Heat Hand Pelicans First Loss Of The Preseason

A short-handed Pelicans squad struggled on both ends of the court, falling to Miami under a barrage of three-pointers.
David Grubb|
Heat Hand Pelicans First Loss Of The Preseason
Heat Hand Pelicans First Loss Of The Preseason

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New Orleans PelicansMiami Heat

The New Orleans Pelicans are no longer undefeated in the preseason, for whatever that’s worth.

Last season’s Eastern Conference runner-up, the Miami Heat, led pretty much from wire-to-wire as they defeated the Pels 120-103.

Willy Hernangomez led five Pelicans in double figures with 17 points and tied the team-high with eight rebounds. Trey Murphy III and Naji Marshall added 15 points each, and Jose Alvarado kicked in 12 of his own. 

Zion Williamson scored 11 points, all in the second quarter, before exiting with ankle soreness and sitting out the second half.

Brandon Ingram missed his fourth consecutive game. Jonas Valanciunas, Dyson Daniels, and Larry Nance Jr. all took the night off as well.

As expected, Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra let his starters play heavy minutes in the Heat’s final preseason contest.

Bam Adebayo had 25 points in 25 minutes and Tyler Herro added 23 more. Jimmy Butler scored 12 points and handed out six assists on the night.

The Pels allowed their opponent to get very comfortable beyond the three-point arc. Miami converted 16 of its 41 attempts, a 39 percent clip from deep. It was only that low because the starters took a seat. Teams shot below 30 percent in New Orleans’ previous three games.

At the other end of the spectrum was the Pelicans who were 7-33 on three point attempts, reversing a trend of three straight games of improving their shooting numbers. Take away Trey Murphy’s 4-of-9 performance and the Pels converted an embarrassing 3-of-24 three pointers.

New Orleans led early, going up 4-0 nothing after a deep three from Murphy. But from there Miami seized control of the ballgame pretty quickly. The Heat went on a 20-9 run to take a seven point lead that would grow to as much as 13 points with 4:34 remaining in the opening frame.

The Pels would close the quarter with a 13-8 kick to cut the deficit to six heading into the second.

New Orleans fell behind by 11 on a Max Strus triple before Williamson made his first basket of the night. Sliding into the center spot, Zion was effective as the focal point of the offense over the next few minutes as he scored or assisted on seven of nine possessions to bring the Pelicans within two with 7:32 remaining in the half.

Two points would be as close as New Orleans would get, with Miami regaining control of the game and taking a 70-62 lead into the break.

The Pelicans’ defense would improve slightly after halftime, but the New Orleans offensive attack fell off a cliff as the team could manage only 41 points over the final 24 minutes.

It was far from the Pelicans’ best game of the preseason, but the fact remains that it is preseason. New Orleans took on one of the best teams in the NBA at near full strength while missing several key components.

With just one contest remaining on Friday in Birmingham, Ala. against the Atlanta Hawks, it’s now time to fine tune and get ready for the regular season that rapidly approaches.

Expect Willie Green and his staff to re-emphasize effort on the defensive end, particularly when closing out on shooters, and better shot selection and ball movement on offense.

Pelicans fans likely won’t see the team’s expected opening night lineup on Friday, but hopefully most of the starters will get to see some action on the floor together before the games count for real.

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David Grubb
DAVID GRUBB

Pelicans Scoop writer and 'Hard in the Paint' Podcast host.

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