{"id":75356,"date":"2024-04-29T19:25:40","date_gmt":"2024-04-29T23:25:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=75356"},"modified":"2024-04-29T19:25:40","modified_gmt":"2024-04-29T23:25:40","slug":"2024-nba-playoffs-pelicans-brandon-ingram-doesnt-feel-like-himself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/04\/29\/2024-nba-playoffs-pelicans-brandon-ingram-doesnt-feel-like-himself\/","title":{"rendered":"2024 NBA Playoffs: Pelicans Pillar Doesn\u2019t Feel Like \u2018Himself\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

With 2019 No. 1 pick Zion Williamson<\/a> sidelined by a hamstring injury<\/a>, the New Orleans Pelicans have been strained trying to overcome his absence. In 2023-24, Williamson averaged 22.9 points , 5.0 assists, and 1.1 steals per game. His production is certainly missed by New Orleans. The Pelicans are also unable to replicate his interior dominance. No player on their roster threatens the paint like he does at a listed 284 pounds. Consequently, they find themselves down 3-0 to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the First Round of the 2024 NBA Playoffs.<\/p>\n

Brandon Ingram Doesn\u2019t Feel Like \u2018Himself\u2019 Ahead of Must-Win Game<\/h2>\n

However, although Williamson\u2019s injury status has received the most attention, a late season knee injury<\/a> sustained by Pelicans pillar Brandon Ingram<\/a> has also held them back.<\/p>\n

After posting 20.8 points per game on 49.2 percent shooting from the field in the 2023-24 regular season, Ingram has been limited to 16.3 points per game on 41.5 percent shooting from the field. He\u2019s been lights out from 3, knocking down 40.0 percent of his long-range bombs. Nonetheless, his performances haven\u2019t been nearly stellar enough to get the Pelicans past the hump.<\/p>\n

The defensive tenacity of Lu Dort<\/a> has affected Ingram, who is rarely able to get an uncontested shot off. That said, Ingram also just doesn\u2019t feel quite like himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I\u2019ve had spurts where I feel good, but not completely<\/a>\u2026,\u201d Ingram reveals, per The Athletic\u2019s William Guillory, adding that he\u2019s been unhappy with his performance thus far in the playoffs. \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019m myself completely.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll continue to push forward and try to find mine. But I can\u2019t just worry about myself. I\u2019ve got to worry about my teammates \u2026 making sure they\u2019re in rhythm. If they\u2019re in rhythm, they\u2019ll find me in rhythm too.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

To Ingram\u2019s point about playmaking, he\u2019s only dished out seven total assists this series. Yet, in the regular season, he averaged 5.7 assists per game. With the Pelicans \u2014who don\u2019t start a traditional point guard \u2014already missing a key facilitator in Williamson, Ingram\u2019s ability to generate easy points for his teammates is that much more important. In those moments when Oklahoma City is trying to choke his air space, he should be looking for teammates.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s tough, especially when you expect so much more out of yourself,\u201d Ingram says.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut OKC, they\u2019ve been game planning, trying to take me off the basketball \u2014 trying to make me play off the basketball. Being physical, sending different bodies at me. I\u2019ve just got to figure it out. I know it\u2019s not going to be easy, but I\u2019ll continue to keep going and try to figure out ways to be effective.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He Gives Them Their Best Shot<\/h3>\n

Fan favorite Trey Murphy III<\/a> more of a 3-point specialist than on-ball playmaker. Fellow starter Herb Jones<\/a> is more of a defensive specialist than offensive threat. Larry Nance Jr.<\/a> has played an auxiliary role throughout his career, more of a connector than takeover player. 31-year-old Jonas Valanciunas<\/a> has been unable to keep up with the young Thunder. For the second consecutive season, CJ McCollum<\/a> has shot below 40 percent from the field in the playoffs.<\/p>\n

With that said, Ingram has as good of a chance as any player to save them from elimination. Indeed, he may have the best chance. To that point, despite his woeful field goal percentage, his shooting stroke is fine. Ingram just has to create more separation, more consistently.<\/p>\n

If he can do that, the Pelicans may live to fight another day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With 2019 No. 1 pick Zion Williamson sidelined by a hamstring injury, the New Orleans Pelicans have been strained trying to overcome his absence. In 2023-24, Williamson averaged 22.9 points , 5.0 assists, and 1.1 steals per game. His production is certainly missed by New Orleans. The Pelicans are also unable to replicate his interior […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":75487,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33,1608,62,3,22],"tags":[308,4745,596,1684],"class_list":["post-75356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pelicans","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","category-thunder","tag-brandon-ingram","tag-nba-injuries","tag-nba-playoffs","tag-zion-williamson"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75356\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}