NBA Matchups: February 28

New Orleans Pelicans (back end) at Indiana Pacers

Team Totals: Pelicans 116.5, Pacers 122

Injury Report: Doug McDermott (O, calf), Aaron Nesmith (Q, ankle)

Pelicans projected starters: C.J. McCollum, Herb Jones, Brandon Ingram, Zion Williamson, Jonas Valanciunas (Note: Decent chance someone is sitting here)

Pacers projected starters: Tyrese Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard, Bennedict Mathurin, Pascal Siakam, Myles Turner

Green quotes: C.J. went through a full practice and is day to day, said C.J. is trending in the right direction, said they “gifted a game away” to the Bulls because of so many mistakes, said BI was fatigued after missing time, said Z went through a full practice, said it was great to have Naji back after suspension and he likes the edginess to his game.

Carlisle quotes: Said the Raptors made it really hard on Haliburton, said the Raptors got in the paint too often after they were playing better in that department coming into Monday’s game, said their paint points were from transition, cuts, and drives, said Mathurin has made great strides defensively and he made some “tremendously difficult shots” on Monday, said they need Mathurin to be a great two-way player and Barrett was trying to take it to him, said Mathurin is getting more consistent, said they are not an isolation team and they had too much of that against the Raptors.

Stats and Notes: 

*There’s a decent chance that Zion Williamson misses this game. We have seen him play in a B2B this month, but it’s worth noting those were both home games. The travel factor makes it a little less likely. Plus, Brandon Ingram also went to the locker room while C.J. McCollum was ruled out early on Tuesday. The injuries will tell the whole story here. For the Indy defense, they’re still getting killed inside and give up the fewest C&S points. Their defense overall has been a little better recently, so it may not be the biggest smash spot we saw from earlier this year.

*We should have the injury report for the Injury Show at 2:00 p.m. ET, but let’s just hit some basic stuff without the injury context. Zion Williamson continues to get a huge handling role, and his matchup could be A+ if Aaron Nesmith has to miss this game. Pascal Siakam just won’t be able to stay in front of him.

*Brandon Ingram could have a favorable matchup on him with Andrew Nembhard giving up a ton of size. Again, I’d expect him to show up on the injury report. If Zion Williamson doesn’t go, that’ll open up a favorable spot for Jonas Valanciunas. I’ll have more on this later today.

*Tyrese Haliburton will get the Herb Jones matchup, making it a really tough spot for him. As mentioned on Monday, his role has been shrinking a little, and it got even smaller in the last game with 5.6 minutes of touch time and only two points off his 11 drives. There’s a lot working against him here.

*Myles Turner gets an OK matchup here. He does have a 37-point game on his résumé against JoVal, and he should get plenty of chances for 3-pointers. Plus, the Pelicans should give him plenty of blocking opportunities. He could also have it both ways if the Pelicans go smaller. Either way, this is a great spot for The Odometer.

*Bennedict Mathurin went off for 34 points against the Raptors in one of the best matchups possible for him with the pace on the other end. It was an on-ball feast with Mathurin’s 16 points combined in PNR and isolation as his highest all year by a lot (previous high was 11, which came one game before). Even with Herb on Haliburton, the Pelicans have generally been able to limit on-ball scorers. Carlisle has really talked up Benny lately, and no Nesmith would put him in play.

 

Great matchups: Zion Williamson

Good matchups: Myles Turner, Brandon Ingram, Jonas Valanciunas

Bad matchups: Tyrese Haliburton

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Dallas Mavericks (back end) at Toronto Raptors