And so the journey of Jimmer continues–on the bench. Just when you thought the old honey badger would break out of his cage and shock the NBA with his escapability and athleticism, his cunning ways and clutch shooting, comes the breaking news.
He didn’t play one minute. In fact, the former BYU star spent the entire series against the Golden State Warriors seated, unable to break free from the proverbial clasps slapped upon his weary ankles. And so there he sat, in his red Pelicans playoff T-shirt, wanting desperately to be a large part of a historic resurgence in the Big Easy and lead this team, this city, this community–to victory.
Heck, if Jimmer could have led New Orleans to even one win, one moment from which this city wracked by Hurricane Katrina and widespread violent crimes could call theirs, well, all in the world surrounding Lake Ponchartrain would have been good for one day. Instead, the cold shooting Pelicans were swept 4-0 by Steph Curry and Co. and eliminated thusly.
A fan blogger named Matty Robinson on Mon. April 28 blames Jimmer for shooting himself out of the Pelicans rotation. No, the Pelicans shot themelseves out of the playoffs and refused to play Jimmer one minute.
There isn’t a lot you can say about what a guy does wrong when he shoots 0-for-0 and makes exactly zero percent of his shots in the playoffs–because he never got the opportunity to show what he could do.
Also, when your team shoots 22 percent and 28 percent from behind the three point line in Games 3 and 4 while your second best three point shooting threat sits, well, you should probably slap yourself across the face and wonder what might have been–had the honey badger played in the first place–then rewrite your article.
Instead, we the people get a bunch of excuses–such as he didn’t play many minutes–but when he did play more than 20 minutes, guess what happened? That’s right, New Orleans got buckets, baby. And Chicago did too, the team on which Jimmer played last year–before the cougar, er, honey badger, was sent to New Orleans.
“In fact, he (Jimmer) has scored in double figures in every game that he has played at least 20 minutes over the last three seasons except two (he scored nine points in each of those games),” said Deseret News contributor Jay Yeomans. “In those 22 games, he averaged 13.18 points.”
Sounds like the honey badger is going to claw back and fight his way out–if and when he gets a chance to escape his cage. In the meantime, it’s time for Jimmer to find yet another team–and teammates–to annoy to the point that they either leave crying to Daddy (Austin Rivers) or head straight back to the D-League (Nate Wolters).
As for the creature they call Norris Cole, it’s not over for him, either. Jimmer didn’t get an opportunity to annoy him to the point of making the former Heat guard leave, but hey, it could happen if the Pelicans bring both players back. Fortunately, that seems rather unlikely. Going 0-for in Game 4 didn’t make Cole’s time in the Big Easy any better than Jimmer’s, frankly, because you’re measured by what you do in crunch time.
As for the Pelicans fans, well, they’re still convinced Jimmer wasn’t the answer. “He simply wasn’t that good in his minutes overall, and this is why the Pelicans signed multiple players to 10-day deals before trading for Norris Cole,” said Robinson in his parting shot at the former BYU star. Again, it’s hard to point the finger at Jimmer when the whole team wasn’t playing well, period.
