Poor Coaching Strategy Dooms Pelicans in Loss to Pacers

By Johnny Louisiana | Feb 11, 2015

The New Orleans Pelicans (27-26) haven’t beaten the Indiana Pacers (21-33) once in the last four years.

Over this course of time Monty Williams has remained the team’s head coach and has yet to figure out the correct way to play the Pacers. He consistently tries to slow down the pace, play through the post and match them physically instead of playing to his roster and forcing Indiana to adapt to him.

The Pelicans players played an atrociously inefficient game of basketball tonight, but Monty Williams was the single most important factor in this utter embarrassment of a loss.

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The first thing Monty needs to realize is that this starting lineup simply does not fit. Monty started the game running Tyreke Evans, Eric Gordon, Dante Cunningham, Alexis Ajinca and Omer Asik.

The first issue with this lineup is spacing, Pelicans fans love Cunningham for his hustle and work ethic but he can’t shoot threes and his mid-range jumper is streaky at best.

Feb 11, 2015; New Orleans, LA, USA; Indiana Pacers guard C.J. Miles (0) shoots over New Orleans Pelicans forward Dante Cunningham (44) and center Omer Asik (3) during the first quarter of a game at the Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

Dante is best suited as at power forward where he can out run slow big men, shoot from the baseline and position himself for offensive rebounds. Dante has been a sufficient stop-gap at small forward but he cannot be relied upon at this position long-term.

Also in the front court was Alexis Ajinca, who is a fine midrange shooter as well as a low post scorer but his 7’2″ frame and complete lack of athleticism hinder his ability to play power forward.

What Monty tried to do was beat the Pacers with size, they are a tough defensive minded old fashion team and Monty allowed them to play within their comfort zone by effectively starting the game with one consistent three-point shooter and three traditional big men.

Anthony Davis and Ryan Anderson are out so Monty had to fill their spot, but he should have gone small and played fast instead of electing to run two center lineups all game.

Quincy Pondexter is consistent defender and shooter, Monty should have started the game Tyreke, Gordon, Pondexter, Cunningham and Asik and pushed the pace instead of grinding it to a halt. This would have exhausted the Pacers, and spaced the floor for Tyreke and Gordon to score effectively.

This change would have helped on defense as well. Monty put Asik on David West early which was a huge mistake because West was able to pull Asik out of the paint, while Asik wasn’t fast enough to contest his shots.

If Cunningham was defending west he could have stuck to him like glue and allowed Asik to protect the rim. David West shot 8-9 from the field due to this poor defensive decision.

Feb 11, 2015; New Orleans, LA, USA; Indiana Pacers forward David West (21) drives past New Orleans Pelicans center Jeff Withey (5) during the first quarter of a game at the Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

Adding a shooter would have helped infinitely on offense as well. Indiana packed the paint and with such poor shooting from the starters, their only option was to throw up misses near the basket.

This is clearly shown by the fact that the bench scored 18 of the teams first 30 points, and did it by shooting threes and avoiding Indiana’s stellar paint protection.

If you want more evidence of Monty’s inability to put forth an effective starting lineup, the Pelicans are currently 28th in points scored in the first quarter.

By halftime Indiana led the Pelicans 57 to 35 and were shooting 52.5% from the field, as oppose to 38.2% from the Pelicans.

They had more than double the assists of the Pelicans, seven more rebounds in addition to six less turnovers. This was a clear indication that matching Indiana’s slow pace was an extremely ineffective way to combat them.

Feb 11, 2015; New Orleans, LA, USA; Indiana Pacers guard C.J. Watson (32) shoots over New Orleans Pelicans guard Jimmer Fredette (32) during the second quarter of a game at the Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

For most of the third quarter Monty stuck to his slow-paced game-plan. The Pacers led by 30 for the better part of the quarter.

Finally in the fourth quarter when the game was very clearly over, Monty sent in a plethora of bench three-point shooters. The Pelicans outscored the Pacers 33-17 in the fourth by adapting to this offensive focus.

Losing Lance Stephenson and Paul George this season has clearly hurt their perimeter defense, and it took 36 minutes for Monty to realize he should have taken advantage of that.

Tonight the Thunder (28-26) beat the Grizzlies (39-14) and moved the Pelicans into the 10th seed in the west.

The Pelicans have faced crippling injuries as of late, though the Pacers are missing their franchise star and are an eastern conference lottery team. Playing fast and utilizing our young roster very well could have won us this game.

The Pelicans are will finish 27-26 before the all-star break. Jrue Holiday and Davis returning will help them to make a push for the 8th seed, but poor coaching could very well be the final nail in the coffin for this young and inexperienced roster.

Next: NBA Trade Deadline 2015: Will the Pelicans Make a Move?

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