NBA Matchups: March 8

New Orleans Pelicans at Philadelphia 76ers

Team Totals: Pelicans 115, 76ers 106.5

Injury Report: Tyrese Maxey (O, concussion)

Pelicans projected starters: C.J. McCollum, Herb Jones, Brandon Ingram, Zion Williamson, Jonas Valanciunas

76ers projected starters: Kyle Lowry, Cam Payne, Buddy Hield, Tobias Harris, Paul Reed

Green quotes: Said they dominated wire to wire with transition and 3-pointers, said they’re trying to get 40 C&S shots (misspoke?), said every guy on the roster has to win their minutes, said when Murphy is shooting it like he did vs. TOR they’re tough to beat, said Herb is playing with a ton of confidence.

Nurse quotes: Said they couldn’t play through the contact from the Grizzlies, said JJJ was killing them and they couldn’t keep the Grizzlies off the glass, said he probably should’ve played Jeff Dowtin more, said it’s been hard for Tobias because he’s been the focal point of defense, said Tobias hasn’t been able to drive by guys as much, said Tobias was their fifth-highest shot taker because other guys were getting shots up.

Stats and Notes: 

*The Pelicans are back on track and it starts with their defense. In their last 10 games, the Pelicans rank second in D rating (second in the halfcourt) thanks to just taking away on-ball scorers in a big way. In their last 10, they have allowed just 7.9 points per game to PNR handlers to move them into first on the year. Do not play lead handlers against them right now. For the 76ers, they haven’t had the same results on defense, ranking 26th in defensive rating since Joel Embiid went down. There really isn’t anything specifically that has been worse than other areas. They are terrible in transition, on-ball D, and rim defense. I guess they’re not terrible in C&S, so they have that going for them.

*Zion Williamson has been a little cold in the last two games, but the Pelicans just blew the doors off their last two opponents to keep his minutes down. His halfcourt production really dried up and he’s lost a little handling to Brandon Ingram. Still, the 76ers won’t have any good answers for him in Tobias Harris, Nicolas Batum, and KJ Martin. We could see Zion cook here.

*As mentioned above, Brandon Ingram is picking up a bigger handling role these days. We’ve seen consistent dime output and he has shown a minutes ceiling when the games are close. This matchup is quite good with the 76ers having no real wing stopper on their roster. He’s in a very attractive spot here with a higher floor than Zion.

*C.J. McCollum has really lost his touch time recently at just 2.4 minutes per game. Some of that is because of the lighter minutes for blowout, but the Pelicans continue to use McCollum off the ball because they’re doing their best to get their shooters more C&S stuff. That’s not great for fantasy upside, so I’d only want McCollum stuff for 3-pointer overs these days.

*Jonas Valanciunas should be solid. This isn’t really the best matchup for him because it’s better when they need his size, and I’d expect the 76ers to try to go smaller in some spots.

*Yeah, the on-ball 76ers are just out. When Kyle Lowry started the last game, his role was pretty decent with his team-high 5.6 minutes of touch time. The Pelicans likely won’t be putting Herb on him because Lowry isn’t a scoring threat, and Lowry did just play 36 minutes. There could be more upside from him than usual.

*I just can’t do it with Tobias Harris. He might get the Herb Jones treatment and Tobias being so passive on Wednesday is going to stick with me for a bit. He does go off out of nowhere sometimes, but that’s really all you can hope for.

*Kelly Oubre never met a shot he didn’t like. Even off the bench, Nurse mentioned he will find starter minutes for him. Oubre plays off the ball and does have a little C&S to his game at 3.4 attempts per game. He arguably has the second-best ceiling (Tobias).

*The matchup is the best for Buddy Hield, who leads the team in C&S possessions at 5.6. The problem is he may lose some minutes for the matchup on the other end. Besides looking for 3-pointers, I’d be out on Buddy here.

Great matchups: Brandon Ingram, Zion Williamson

Good matchups: Buddy Hield, Kelly Oubre

Bad matchups: Tobias Harris, Cam Payne

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Charlotte Hornets (front end) at Washington Wizards