Kings vs. Pelicans Preview – By the Numbers
After what seems like a very low key last 3 games, the Kings are back in action in New Orleans for an extremely meaningful game tonight. The Pelicans are fighting for their playoff spot and the Kings are trying to get back on track heading into the playoffs. Let’s see what they can do to make like difficult for New Orleans tonight.
The Pelicans rely more on their defensive prowess than offense, as they come into the game with the 6th ranked defensive rating of 111.8 in the NBA and 19th offensive rating of 113.9. If you look at only the last 8 games though, in which they’ve won 7, the Pelicans rating jump to 120.6 on offense and fall to 103.6 on defense. Both of those numbers would rank 1st in the season standings. To put it lightly, the Pelicans are balling out right now.
During those 8 games, Brandon Ingram has averaged 30.3 Points, 6.3 Rebounds, and 8.5 Assists on 53.2/45/92.7% shooting splits. Oh and CJ McCollum is shooting a cool 47.1% on 6.4 3PA’s per game during the stretch as well. If you look at just the 3-point shots he’s taking off of Ingram passes, that number jumps up to 61.1%. Ingram’s passing is a new facet to his game that is continuing to improve. The Kings will not only have to score him down as a scorer, but they’ll have to keep him from getting other guys involved now as well.
For the Kings, they’ll look to get on track beyond the arc tonight after shooting 11-of-44 (25%) from 3 against the Spurs. That may be difficult to do tonight as the Pelicans opponent 3P% is 33.8%, the lowest in the NBA. In their previous matchups, they held the Kings to 27-of-80 (33.8%) from deep. I’ll be looking inside for the Kings tonight instead of hoping for the 3 to fall.
New Orleans allows opponents to shoot 56.7% on 2-Point Field Goals, which is tied for 2nd highest in the league. As a reminder, the Kings are shooting 58.9% on their 2P FG’s, the highest mark in the history of the NBA. Once again, the numbers bear it out in their previous 2 matchups. The Kings shot 55-of-85 (64.7%) inside the arc.
What should also help is that De’Aaron Fox has shown that he plays extremely well against New Orleans. He’s averaged 23.1 Points, 7.1 Assists and 3.7 Rebounds in the 16 games he’s played against them. It’s the 2nd highest Point average and 3rd highest Assist average against any team in the league. Fox has missed both of the previous games against the Pelicans this year, so hopefully he has some pent-up fuel that he’s saved up from the previous matchups that will get unleashed tonight.
