November 29th - New Orleans Pelicans vs Philadelphia 76ers - 9-9
See you tonight!
— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) November 29, 2023
🏀: vs Philadelphia 76ers
🕖: 7:00 pm CT
📺: @BallySportsNO
📻: @995WRNO
#Pelicans | @SmoothieKing pic.twitter.com/2upiM8MvYC
Injury report:
CJ McCollum has been upgraded to probable for tonight's game https://t.co/NIMLr3i2Pj
— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) November 29, 2023
Now, CJ is listed as probable - he's already said he is playing.
After this, we play Spurs and then we're @ Chicago. CJ will not be cleared to fly by that point but will have been cleared by Dec 4th. Therefore he will miss the Chicago game, but he will be there to play in Sacramento on the 4th. It is also possible that Trey will have returned by that point.
But that's the future: today we take on the 12-5 Philadelphia 76ers. They're the league's 2nd best offense but a mediocre defense, and admittedly that record is bloated by a hot early start; they're 4-4 over their last 8. That said, their last 8 has been a tough schedule, facing Boston, Minnesota, and the Pacers buzzsaw offense twice, so we have to assume that they're still on top form. They've scored at least 119 points in 5 of their last 6 games.
The task for tonight is going to be the re-integration of CJ into the lineup while maintaining defense against a team which is large. To me, that means we're going to need a lot of JV minutes and a lot of Zeller minutes - this is not a night for random Nance lineups, thank you Willie Green. Similarly, against such a big team the paint will be naturally more cramped unless you force it to open, so I'm hoping for a fair amount of CJ-Hawkins minutes to provide space for BI, Zion, and JV, whichever combination gets played together. Herb and Dyson avoiding foul trouble so they can stay on Maxey will also be vital.
This is the kind of game that can be lost even when healthy: the Sixers are a great team, playing really well. But with CJ back, I'm hoping to see more energy, a lot more attempts from behind the arc, and a lot of fight. This game is tough to win, but that doesn't mean you should just give up - even if we lose, they should walk out wounded.
Let's see what happens.