The Pelicans steeled themselves as they visited the NBA champions Bucks in one of those games any team with aspirations should pay attention to. Leaving the autopilot for many minutes against a weak and weakened opponent can take its toll. Not even with those was there a real alternative for Willie Green’s men despite the fact that they weren’t completely detached until the end of the game.. On the board, the most valuable chips were those of the locals and that maxim made the match more bearable to finish high.
To appear at the home of the reigning NBA champions with the absences of the two players who solve the most problems is too much. Leaving aside that Zion Williamson has not yet joined, Brandon Ingram is experiencing problems in one of his heels and Jonas Valanciunas has just entered the dreaded health protocol against the coronavirus. With those wickers they were left with this basket. The Pelicans fought for an epic victory at the Fiserv Forum but left without the expected reward.
The end result was 136-113. The four quarters were for the Bucks, who had their best man in the Greek MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo with a triple-double to shake: 35 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists.
The game was an opportunity to see Willy Hernangómez in action in a different place than the one he is used to frequenting. He was the one chosen to replace Valanciunas’s resignation as headline. The meeting did not go as expected by the Spanish, surely, since his 11 points and 9 rebounds were sterile in opposition to what happened next to him. He did not hit so much from within the paint in attack, which is his greatest virtue, and he was not differential either in the fight in the hoops or when trying to stop possessions from defense. He finished 20 minutes on the court and was surpassed by the other important pivot of the rotation, Jaxson Hayes, who scored 23 points in 28 minutes. The Lithuanian reference will be out until he comes out of isolation, so the evolution of this friendly internal dispute will be seen.
That Pelicans outing with Willy was strange. The coaching staff regretted, if there is no other better explanation, since they took him off the track after four minutes to admit Hayes without the problems of fouls (he did not make any) as an excuse. Perhaps to surprise. The fact is that the panorama did not change much. Holiday tried to pull the car in the first quarter after a couple of errors early, but the Bucks did not go away on the scoreboard. In fact, when Willy returned and entering the second period, it was the Pelicans who surprised. The 30-37 became a small danger, remedied by six points almost in a row that contained the visiting offense. Before the break came one of those punches that hurt: two counterattacks to end the period starring Pat Connaughton made it go from three to eight, which is a significant change and just when the players take a break. Jrue Holiday’s direction was a blob for New Orleans, which ended up falling apart a bit from the second half of the third quarter. The distances of 15-20 points became a reality until the end of the match and Antetokounmpo took the opportunity to have a little more fun, including Hernangómez’s poster, before retiring to rest.
