Pelicans crush Golden State Warriors
In this post I do not intend to analyze yesterday's game because those who played against the Pelicans did not look like Warriors, rather they were schoolboys playing against a professional team. My goal is to take this game as a starting point, to issue criteria that I have had for some time, about a team that made a generation fall in love with their game.
What we experienced yesterday was the confirmation of the end of a generation or a team that continues to cling to a scheme that is not working and that, after winning in the 21-22 season, believed that everything was going smoothly and at full sail, but in the previous season it was demonstrated that it was not going as well as they thought. And there are several elements that I have to show that this team is about to sign one of the worst performances in its history:
- They are still clinging to a recruiting system that is not working for them.
- They have one of the most veteran squads in the entire NBA. If we add to this that their most renowned signing of the season was CP3 or Chris Paul who is 38 years old, then we will realize how ill-advised the signing policy is.
- The veteran nature of the roster prevents them from developing that fast-paced offense and suffocating defense that gave them such good results and allowed them to win games in the first half of the games.
- The core of the regular quintet that brought them so much success no longer exists (Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green). Moreover, Thompson has not been the same after the injury, Curry has been dogged by injuries and Green has been more concerned with lawsuits and scandals than the game itself.
- Another essential element that characterized this team was the bench that allowed them to rotate their star players and maintain a high level of play and scoring. That has disappeared and, when it is necessary to sit the starters due to the demands of the season and the aforementioned factors, the team's efficiency is lost.
Other factors could be mentioned, but it would make the publication endless.
To understand all of the above let's focus on yesterday's game which they lost 141-105.
Here there was everything: problems with the Warriors' defense, lack of shooting at the rim, problems with ball circulation, lost a lot of balls, team apathy, poor player management, physical problems and many other deficiencies that you can imagine.
It is impossible to believe that the Pelicans scored 46 points in the first half and that the Warriors were down by one in the last two quarters. But, what makes me think that this epidemic has affected everyone is Curry's low scoring (15 points) and the collective attitude of the team.
It is true that there is still a long way to go for the postseason because the playoffs start on April 20, but, at this moment Steve Kerr's team is out of that party (12th place) far from the positions of this phase to which the first eight of each conference arrive.
The management has a lot of work to do if they do not want to sign a season to forget in which they are not even in the fight to win the Western Conference.
Many say that the time has come to rebuild this team. Personally, I believe that for some time now, work should have been done in this direction, but gradually, so that the new players would be nourished by the wisdom and experience of those who should have left the team that in the last decade went to six finals and won four of them.
We will read you here.
See you soon.
Credits
The translator used was Deepl Translate.