At the beginning of July it was announced that the New Orleans -Pelikans would be part of West Group B for the addition of this year’s Emirates NBA Cup. After they went to Vegas in the first year of the NBA Cup, the Pelicans were not lucky this last season. The Pelicans end last season last season in their group with a record of 1-3 and get a chance of redemption, although their path to success will be extremely difficult.
The Pelican group B includes the Memphis Grizzlies, Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers.
The first matchup of New Orleans will hit the clippers in Los Angeles on 31 October.
Their second match will be against the other LA team on November 14, the Lakers, in New Orleans.
The two LA -Matchups are followed by a trip to Dallas, where they will take on the Mavericks on November 21.
Then the Pelicans will play group against the Grizzlies at home on November 26.
The Clippers and Mavericks -Matchups show how good the pelicans are really
Although both the Lakers and the Grizzlies are still really solid teams, they are not nearly at the level that I suspect that the clippers and Mavericks are next season.
Both matchups present a real test for the attack of the Pelicans, because Dallas and LA both have defensive staff.
Last season, the clippers had the third highest defensive assessment behind only the Oklahoma City Thunder and Orlando Magic, but they have improved their defense talent even more.
By exchanging Norman Powell for John Collins, Kawhi Leonard no longer has to play the power forward, as Collins will end in it. This gives the clippers even more size alongside Ivica Zubac, who anchored their defense last season.
For Dallas, general manager Nico Harrison tried to build a defensive Juggernaut, so he exchanged Luka Doncic. With talent such as Anthony Davis, Daniel Gafford, Cooper Flagg, Derick Lively, Naji Marshall, Olivier-Maxence Prosper and Klay Thompson, the Mavericks defensively becomes a special team.
With the added atmosphere that we have seen that NBA Cup matches have and the defensive excellence that both teams have, the projected high-scoring attack of the Pelicans will be tested early next season.
New Orleans built his attack this summer with the additions of Jordan Poole, Jeremiah Fears and Derik Queen to surround an already stacked group with Zion Williamson, Trey Murphy and Dejounde Murray. So these two NBA Cup -Matchups can be their first test.
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