The pressure was tangible and impactful. They new the Pelicans had a dearth of ball handlers, and so they met guys with hard traps as soon as they cross the half-court line. The switched freely from pressing the ball handler to zones to back. They kept a team without a lot of natural talent from getting into a flow for the first two quarters – and by the time they started figuring stuff out a little in the second half, the Pelicans were too tired to make anything hard. There were a lot of short shots, a lot of close shots that couldn’t find the mark – and even Tim Frazier looked gassed and didn’t have the pop and verve we’ve enjoyed.
Pelicans slog way to another loss
