Kings vs. Pelicans Preview – By the Numbers (11/20/23)

November 20, 2023

The Kings are riding the high of a 6-game winning streak and look to continue their success in the first of 2-game mini series against the Pelicans. New Orleans comes into the game with the 21st ranked offense, the 19th ranked defense, and a lot of question marks. I can’t tell you what the Pelicans future will be, but I can tell you what to expect for tonight’s game. Let’s dig into the numbers.

You can’t talk about the Pelicans without starting off with Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson. They are both having great individual season:

  • Brandon Ingram: 23.4 Points, 5.6 Rebounds, 5.2 Assists, 0.7 Steals, 49.0/22.9/75.6% shooting splits
  • Zion Williamson: 21.8 Points, 6.3 Rebounds, 4.4 Assists, 0.8 Steals, 52.4/50.0/57.3% shooting splits (1-of-2 from 3)

The two just haven’t seemed to mesh on the court together. Ingrams 3-point shooting has gotten off to a very slow start this year compared to 39.0% last season, and Zion does his damage almost exclusively in the paint.

Either one of them can carry a team on any given night, but until they do it consistently, there will continue to be questions about the star duo.

Speaking of star duos, De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis are showing out.

  • De’Aaron Fox: 31.9 Points, 4.6 Rebounds, 6.1 Assists, 1.9 Steals, 50.6/41.7/75.5% shooting splits
  • Domantas Sabonis: 20.8 Points, 12.9 Rebounds, 7.2 Assists, 0.9 Steals, 0.9 Blocks, 63.4/37.5/63.3% shooting splits

They are doing everything on the floor, and it’s not just on offense. Fox is leading the charge on defense with 1.9 Steals and 3.0 Deflections per game. Sabonis is blocking shots at a career high rate and showing constant verticality at the rim. They’ve both bought into both side of the ball and it’s seeping into the rest of the team.

What makes Fox and Sabonis so unique is that they both bring so much to the table. They work off of each other so well and complete each others games, especially with Fox’s new found 3-point shooting.

Ok, now back to tonight’s game. Some things to look for and areas that the Kings can take advantage. The Pelicans are a very odd team stats-wise in the fact that they are middle of the pack in a ton of stats. There isn’t an area that they are dominant in on offense, but use a little bit of everything to get the job done.

On defense, they give up a ton of 3’s per game. Opponents are shooting 39.3 3’s per contest against them, 2nd most in the league. But those opponents shot just 32.3% on those shots, 2nd lowest in the league. Without watching multiple Pelicans games this year, it’s hard to say if that’s luck or defensive ability, but at the very least it’s something to note coming into the night.

An area where the Kings can really take advantage of tonight is in the Floater Area. The Pelicans allow opponents to shoot 51.9% in the area, the highest in the league. The Kings are shooting 52.5% in the spot, 2nd highest in the league. That’s exactly what you want when looking for an advantage. Opponent weakness meets Kings strength. Both Fox and Sabonis are destroying teams in that area of the floor, shooting 60.9% and 58.0%, respectfully.

That’s going to make the Floater Area scoring the swing stat of the game. The Pelicans love the spot as well, taking 20.5 shots there per game, 2nd most in the league. The Kings have the percentage advantage with New Orleans sitting at 43.1%, but Ingram is shooting 53.1% and Jonas Valanciunas is sneaky productive there as well at 53.7%.