New Orleans Pelicans: Solomon Hill needs to step up in Game 5

Solomon Hill hasn’t been the same player since his hamstring injury, but will need to turn back the clock for the New Orleans Pelicans to win Game 5

The New Orleans Pelicans shocked NBA pundits and fans alike after sweeping the Blazers in round one. Those same people expected the Golden State Warriors to blast New Orleans. This time, they were right.

Golden State has created a litany of problems for New Orleans. Among them: Nobody on the Pelicans has been able to contain Kevin Durant.

Jrue Holiday has guarded Durant for much of the series. He has done his best, which, by the way, is really, really good. But he can only do so much to make up for an eight inch height difference.

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New Orleans signed Solomon Hill in 2016 to guard the Durants of the world, but Hill has not been the player he was before his hamstring injury right before this season. He has played 13.9 minutes per game this playoffs.

Hill appeared to be part of New Orleans’ long term calculus when he signed a four-year, $48 million deal two off-seasons ago. The Pelicans used their cap space on Hill and E’Twaun Moore. Moore is a combo guard, so it seemed like they penciled in Hill as the starting small forward.

This felt like an odd fit. New Orleans’ offense demanded more spacing for Anthony Davis and, at the time, Tyreke Evans. Hill mostly played the 4 in Indiana, and didn’t shoot 3’s with much volume or accuracy there.

Hill’s first season on the Pelicans was a modest success. He started at small forward and played almost 30 minutes per game. He improved his 3-point stroke, shooting 34.8 percent on a healthy 3.4 attempts per, and showed he had many of the wide range of tools demanded out of players who have to guard LeBron and Durant.

The Pelicans ended the 2016-17 season with stout defensive numbers, a encouraging sign given mid-season acquisition DeMarcus Cousins’ defense-averse reputation. It seemed like they had found a way to incubate Cousins on defense by surrounding him with plus defenders in Davis, Holiday, and Hill.

Despite not making up enough ground to get to the 2017 Playoffs, the Pelicans must have been optimistic about the opportunity to get their star-studded frontcourt reps in training camp with Jrue Holiday, Hill, Moore, and new notable signees Rajon Rondo, Ian Clark, and Darius Miller.

The plan grew complicated when Hill tore a hamstring during an offseason workout. He is the only small forward on the roster with the size to guard the league’s elite wings.

The Pelicans were able to make it work with undersized guys at the 3. There are enough teams that you can get away with starting E’Twaun Moore at small forward against. However, Moore cannot guard Durant.

While Hill has recovered from his injury in time for the playoffs, his shot has not. He shot 4 for 21 from 3 in his return at the end of the regular season.

He is 6 for 16 in the playoffs. This isn’t bad percentage-wise, but fails to capture the negative impact he’s had on the Pelicans’ offense. The Warriors have dared him to shoot 3’s all series long, content to have Draymond Green or David West “guard” him, but really just patrol the paint.

Other than in the first quarter of Game 3, when he hit three straight 3’s, Hill hasn’t been able to make them pay.

If you’re guarding Durant well, a coach will live with it if you don’t contribute anything on offense. But Hill hasn’t quite been at that level defensively.

Hill has been uncharacteristically foul prone upon his return. In the playoffs, he’s averaging 5.5 fouls per 36 minutes. This could just be bad luck, but also could be him compensating for not having the same burst as before his injury.

Some of the fouls have also come from being too late to help. While Hill does a good job switching and trapping, he is not an instinctual help defender. He has struggled in this series when he has to balance sticking to his man and providing help. The Warriors punish this kind of indecisiveness.

The Pelicans have decided putting Jrue on Durant, hoping to force him into tough mid-range shots from the post, is less detrimental than playing Solomon Hill.

To make up for Jrue’s height disadvantage, the Pelicans found success in Game 3 helping off of non-shooters such as Livingston, Green, and Andre Iguodala to trap Durant. Golden State has wised up to this. In Game 4 they had Curry set a screen for Durant (clip is at 3:24 of this video).

At the end of Game 4, with the game out of reach, Gentry experimented with putting Davis on Durant. Davis did a pretty good job, but dragging him away from the rim has its setbacks.

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Regardless of who guards Durant, Hill can hold is own if switched onto him, something you cannot say about most Pelicans. New Orleans’ season will almost certainly end tonight unless Hill can hit a few open 3’s and play solid defense.