How Zion Williamson, Trey Murphy will find ‘beauty’ in failure vs. Tyrese Haliburton’s Pacers appeared first on ClutchPoints. Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The New Orleans Pelicans have been searching for ways to make Zion Williamson more dangerous beyond the paint. One game into the Jamahl Mosley era, that work is already producing results. Unfortunately, Williamson and Trey Murphy III were more effective from beyond the arc than inside it during an NBA Opening Night loss to Tyrese Haliburton’s Indiana Pacers.
Williamson (2-4 3PA) made back-to-back 3-pointers late in the second quarter and finished with 22 points (7-16 FGA), but the Pelicans were outscored 64-48 in the paint and shot just 43% from the field overall. Murphy, the franchise’s career leader in 3-pointers, scored 11 points (4-11 FGA) on a night when clean looks inside were rarer than contested ones from beyond the arc (2-5 3PA). The inversion was jarring.
Thankfully, Mosley knows where to start looking for answers.
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“That is the beauty of film,” Mosley told ClutchPoints. “You go back, you watch it, you clean up some things that you know you can do. There are opportunities for us to spray when we get down in the paint and there are three (defenders) in there. Zubac did a great job being vertical at the rim. (The Pacers) did a very good job down there.”
The issue was not simply missed shots. New Orleans repeatedly attacked a crowded interior without consistently creating the passing angles necessary to punish Indiana for collapsing. Zubac’s discipline around the rim forced Williamson into more difficult, somewhat impatient finishes, which led to more misses and turnovers than usual.
Murphy should be a primary beneficiary of those adjustments, but the opportunities never fully developed. Dribbles were picked up too often; extra passes never made. Not that a single play alone made the difference, but just look at that last airball and where Murphy was standing when Williamson took the shot.
Not seeing that Murphy was open, had a better, more in-rhythm shot, and knowing there was time to make it was indicative of the night.
Mosley knows that’s just a wrinkle that can be worked out quickly, not a long-term worry for a work-in-progress Pelicans.
“So it’s finding the open man, creating the right space necessary so we have an outlet for when we do get into the paint,” Mosley noted. “We will have to go back and look at those on the film and see exactly what it looks like for our spacing and their decision-making. Again, it goes back to a lot of those early turnovers and the late fouls.”
Those miscues compounded the difficulties of changing the narratives around the Williamson Era. They just cannot close out clutch wins, but the show must go on. Next up? Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr.’s Utah Jazz followed by Nikola Jokic’s Nuggets, both on the road at altitude. The Pelicans will need the outside shots to keep going up, but it’s hard to see Mosley getting his first win on the road trip without more success at the rim.
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