CJ McCollum and Herb Jones now down as the injury bug continues to plague the Pels

The second week of NBA regular season basketball has wrapped up, and the New Orleans Pelicans had a fairly busy week. They continued their four-game road trip staying in Portland to take on the Blazers for the second straight game.

It was a completely different game from a couple nights ago. The Pels struggled to shoot the basketball, only making 43.2% of their field goals and 27.6% of their threes. 

There was a lid on the basket for them as Zion Williamson contributed 14 points on 3-12 shooting. Brandon Ingram also put together his worst showing of the young season. He also had 14 on 7-17 shooting.

CJ McCollum was the leading scorer for the Pels as he managed 27 points on 47.6% shooting and four steals.

Yet again, Jerami Grant was the story for the Blazers as he continued his scoring output from two nights ago. He scored 28 points on 52.9% shooting, shot 8-12 from the charity stripe and had four blocks.

Anfernee Simons also had a great performance, adding 27 points and six assists to the winning cause.

The Blazers would get their revenge with a 125-103 blowout victory.

Following the loss, the Pels traveled directly south to the Bay area for a two-game battle against the Golden State Warriors. Let’s just say San Francisco wasn’t nice to the Pels either.

In the first contest, Williamson and Ingram both had bounce back games combining for 61 points on 66.7% shooting from the field. How could the Pels have possibly lost this game when their best players showed up? Because nobody else did.

Nobody else scored in double digits or even had double digit shot attempts for the Pels. On top of that Williamson was responsible for seven turnovers which isn’t great in most scenarios. 

And if the injury bug hadn’t plagued the Pels enough, Herb Jones went down with an apparent injury. He’s expected to miss the next two to four weeks with a right shoulder strain and a small low-grade partial thickness tear in his rotator cuff. 

For the Curry-less Warriors, it was an all-around team effort. Buddy Hield led the way in scoring with an efficient 28 points and knocked down seven triples.

The surprising performance award goes to forward Lindy Waters III off the bench for his efforts. He finished with 21 points, eight rebounds, four assists and a game-high plus-minus of +26. 

However, the most glaring stat is that the Pels led by as much as 20 points in this game and still managed to lose by 18. They couldn’t keep up with the fast pace and elite floor-spacing of the Warriors who knocked down 12 more threes on over double the shot attempts.

The Warriors would win the first game 124-106, but it would be a quick turnaround as they played the following night as well.

The Pels came into the back-to-back shorthanded with McCollum sidelined with a right adductor injury. Guard Jordan Hawkins would step into the starting lineup and not disappoint.

He had a game-high 23 even though he shot an inefficient 9-21 from the field and 4-14 from deep. 

Inconsistencies began to show for the star forward duo. Ingram and Williamson finished with 12 and 14 points respectively. Guard Jose Alvarado was also placed in the starting lineup with the absence of Jones. He finished with 16 points on 46.1% shooting.

For the Warriors, it has continued to be a team effort to win games with multiple players finishing in double digits. They didn’t force as many turnovers as they did in the first meeting, but they held the Pels to 36.7% shooting from the field. 

It was forward Draymond Green who led the charge in his usual manner: facilitating the offense, being the on-court coach and still playing elite defense even at his age. His defensive pressure led to five blocks and a steal and was a catalyst for Williamson’s 5-20 shooting.

Once again, it was Hield who led the charge in scoring for the Warriors. He finished with 21 off the bench. 

The Warriors would win 104-89, sweeping the Pels in their two-game series, making

them 1-3 overall in away games.

After a tough road trip, the Pels headed back home to the Smoothie King Center to face the 2-3 Indiana Pacers. Essentially, it was a must-win at home if Pels didn’t want to sink further in their hole of losses.

With the help of Ingram and Williamson, they were able to get a foot out of the hole and get back in the win column. 

Williamson accounted for 34 points, six rebounds and 10 assists. He responded after his rough showing against an even better interior defender in center Myles Turner. He shot an efficient 14-20 and recorded his first career 30 point and 10 assist game.

Ingram collected 26 points, six rebounds and seven dimes. 

Emerging rookie center, Yves Missi, was placed into the starting lineup over Daniel Theis. He had been outperforming Theis in his lesser role and earned the start. Missi played solid as he finished with 10 rebounds and a block. 

It was a neck-and-neck game throughout but the Pels were too much for the struggling Pacers as they would prevail 125-118. 

Like I said last week, the biggest factor to winning games for the Pels is controlling the turnover margin. In games where they have fewer turnovers than their opponents, they are 3-0 so far. 

Even though they are missing their lengthy, ball-hawk defenders who help generate turnovers, taking care of the basketball is a universal golden rule.

One of the bright spots during this dim start has been Jordan Hawkins in his sophomore season. He’s played all six games so far, averaging 17.3 points and shooting 37.5% from three.

He’s stepped up big in the absence of key players, and the reps he’s getting now will prove beneficial down the stretch of the long season.