OKLAHOMA CITY – Alvin Gentry announced a New Orleans starting lineup change roughly 90 minutes before tip-off Sunday, opting to switch the recent roles of Tim Frazier and E’Twaun Moore. As a result, Moore will start next to point guard Jrue Holiday vs. Oklahoma City, while Frazier will come off the bench for the first time in 2016-17. The 6-foot-1 Frazier had been sharing playmaking duties with Holiday in a two-point guard alignment, but New Orleans (7-13) will go to a more traditional backcourt.
“That gives us a little more size and more shooting (in the starting lineup),” Gentry said of the move. “It also puts Tim in a position where he’s very good, where he is the primary ballhandler on the second team.”
Frazier is the only Pelicans player who had started each of the first 20 games, but will likely spend a bit less time on the floor with Holiday now, giving Frazier the reins of running the second unit’s attack. The 6-4 Moore is familiar with the New Orleans first string, having started 17 games this season out of 19 appearances. Moore was one bright spot during Friday’s 18-point home loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, making jumpers and scoring on in-between flip shots from the paint.
“He is doing a good job of that,” Gentry said of Moore’s offensive creativity. “That little floater that he’s developed has been a good shot. We’re going to try (this new starting backcourt) and see what happens.”
Other notes from pregame in OKC:
New Orleans enters Sunday’s game at 0-5 in away games vs. the Western Conference, including defeats to Memphis, Golden State, Sacramento, Portland and Dallas. Posting an initial in-conference road win won’t be easy against a Thunder team that is 8-4 at home overall, losing only once to a team from the West (Clippers on Nov. 11).
On Saturday, Pelicans forward Solomon Hill cited defensive rebounding and taking better care of the ball as two areas that can help New Orleans’ chances considerably on the road. The Pelicans are 2-7 overall on the road, an area that must improve significantly in order to become serious postseason hopefuls. They were just 9-32 last season, one reason their playoff chances faded away by mid-March.
“Keys are (not allowing) offensive rebounds and (limiting) turnovers,” Hill said. “If we can limit those, we’ll put ourselves in position to win at the end of the game. When we turn the ball over a lot, teams are able to feed off of that, and getting second-chance opportunities. If you give an NBA team three shots, they’re going to make one. If we can key in on those things, especially with OKC, we can put ourselves in a position to win at the end of the game.”