New Orleans Pelicans: Three things we’d like to see vs. New York Knicks

The New Orleans Pelicans face the New York Knicks in their preseason finale needing to show us three more things before the regular season.

The New Orleans Pelicans head into Madison Square Garden on Friday night to take on the New York Knicks in the final preseason tuneup before the regular season begins.

The preseason has been great for the Pelicans thus far. New Orleans is 4-0 thus far with the last three wins all coming in come-from-behind fashion. Not only have they been successful but they have been really fun to watch.

There is one overarching story that is putting a hamper on this game, though. We have to wait for Zion Williamson‘s Madison Square Garden debut as he is set to miss a few weeks with a right knee injury.

We already knew that Zion was missing this game but the few weeks wrinkle was reported on Friday. At least Knicks’ fans don’t have to watch Zion go to work and wonder what could have been.

The show does not stop and the New Orleans Pelicans want to end the preseason on a high note. Here are three things we would like to see in this game to accomplish just that.

1. Brandon Ingram with a huge game

Brandon Ingram is one of two players that need to step up while Zion Williamson is out. Ingram is trending to score 20 points per game this season and should look to score 22-24 while Zion is out to keep the offense flowing.

Ingram has had some brilliant flashes in the preseason but is yet to have that takeover game as Zion has been the one doing that in three of the four games. With Zion out, the floor is Ingram’s for the taking and the offense needs to go through him for us to be confident in his abilities over the next few weeks.

2. The vets to step up

Veterans J.J. Redick and Derrick Favors have been kind of absent during the preseason thus far. Redick has not been knocking down his coveted threes and the Pelicans have not really called on the pick and roll with Favors.

A big reason for that is because the preseason is all about determining the rotation and seeing which borderline players are ready for a role in the regular season. We all already know that Favors and Redick are going to get minutes and don’t really have much more to prove in exhibition games.

But still, with this being the last preseason game and the regular season is right around the corner, it would be nice to see a rotation that more resembles what Alvin Gentry plans on doing, including getting Favors and Redick going.

This is the last tune-up game before the games really matter. Yes, Redick and Favors have been there and done that, but they could still use a nice showing heading into the regular season.

3. A thorough, definitive win

Of course, we want to see the New Orleans Pelicans win this game, what a cop-out of a thing to put, right?

Realistically, wins and losses don’t matter in the preseason either way and it is more important to gauge the individual performances that lead to that result. That is why we should not overvalue the Pelicans’ four wins in the preseason.

It is not getting the win that necessarily is important, it is about being the better team on the court for most of the 48 minutes.

The New York Knicks are a young team as well but if the Pelicans are going to surprise many and be a playoff team like some are hopeful for, then they should have a noticeable advantage over a team like the Knicks.

Yes, bad games happen and if they lose it won’t be the end of the world. But if they come out and ball out and the game is never in question, it will show that the Pelicans are simply on a different level. There are levels to the NBA.