Pelicans vs. Nets: A View From The Other Side

New Orleans will square off against Brooklyn in front of a national television audience.

Terry Kimble | Jan 6, 2023

Pelicans vs. Nets: A View From The Other Side /

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New Orleans Pelicans

NEW ORLEANS - Friday night in the Smoothie King Center will be an NBA heavyweight matchup when the New Orleans Pelicans (24-14) host the Brooklyn Nets (25-13). Both these teams are vastly different since their opening night matchup when the Pelicans won 130-108. Brooklyn has changed coaches and is one of the hottest teams in the league.

Terry Kimble of the Pelicans Scoop Podcast interviewed Nets reporter Chris Milholen from FanNation's Inside the Nets, a Sports Illustrated Channel, to discuss the Nets' season and preview Friday night's National TV matchup against the Pelicans.

Pelican Scoop: The Nets are 21-6 since Jacque Vaughn took the head coaching reins in November. What is it about his coaching style that has the team responding so positively?

Chris Milholen: Since Jacque Vaughn took the head chair, the players have commonly spoken about his simplification of the game. He has simplified the game plan on both ends of the floor, and you can tell the players quickly bought into it.

In addition, Vaughn has held his players accountable. He quickly calls timeouts if he sees something he doesn’t like instead of allowing the players to police themselves.

Pelican Scoop: Both KD and Kyrie are playing at an ALL-NBA level now. Does it seem like the drama surrounding them during the offseason and early this season is past them?

Chris Milholen: Those were the biggest questions heading into the season: How is this Nets team going to rebound from what occurred this offseason and when adversity strikes, how is this team going to respond? Last week, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving both said the focus has always been on basketball, and that everything that goes on outside the hardwood doesn’t affect the team. The 12-game win streak has shown this team is locked in and proves that sentiment.

Pelicans Scoop: Ben Simmons is a guy who receives a lot of criticism, some of which is unwarranted. How has his style of play fit with this team so far this season?

Chris Milholen: Although Ben Simmons’ season stats don’t come off as a star, he’s doing everything he needs to do for this Nets team to succeed. Offensively, his premier passing ability has opened lots of great looks along the perimeter for shooters and although he doesn’t draw a lot of gravity, his ability to find cutters or get KD and Kyrie the ball off pin downs, screens, etc has been great.

Defensively, Simmons has done well against guarding the opposing team’s best offensive threat. From Giannis to Zion to other star-studded wings, his ability to guard 1-through-5, along with being a rebounding threat has served volumes for Brooklyn.

Pelicans Scoop: How has the return of TJ Warren elevated this team to be even more dangerous?

Chris Milholen: The Nets arguably have the top 2 players that are having the best ‘Bet on Yourself’ seasons so far this season. That’s Kyrie Irving and T.J. Warren. For Warren, Vaughn stated recently he doesn’t see him playing 35 minutes a game at all this season. Can that change? Of course, but he’s still getting his legs under him after being away from the game for nearly two years due to injury. In his minutes so far, he can create his own shot and be a scoring threat off the bench. On defense, he has shown he isn’t a liability and has pretty good footwork, especially in single coverage and in Brooklyn’s switching defense. Warren is certainly an X-factor for this team.

Pelicans Scoop: Pelicans will be extremely short-handed but give us one thing (matchup/lineup/stat etc...) we should be looking for in Friday night's game versus the Pelicans.

Chris Milholen: The one thing that I’ll be keeping an eye out for, well actually two: How this team gang rebounds and combats Jonas Valanciunas and what defensive coverages the team throws at Kevin Durant. The last time these two teams met, the Pels big man had an early Thanksgiving down low. He powered NOLA’s second-chance points and was a beast on the boards. Clearly Zion - who is out on Friday - helped a lot there, but I’m intrigued to see how Vaughn combats his presence down low. In terms of defensive coverages, considering the Pelicans are short-handed, do they throw doubles at KD’s way early or do they resort to that only in the fourth? What other defensive coverages will they throw at him? That’s what I’ll be interested to see.

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