Now or never for the Pelicans
Tuesday night was another enigma in the Crescent City.
The New Orleans Pelicans were facing one of their most important games of the season, a home matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers without LeBron James, and they needed a win. The teams were tied in the standings, and a New Orleans win would have given them a leg up in the Western Conference playoff race, tying the season series with the Lakers in the process.
The night was all but over as soon as it began. Three minutes into the game, the Lakers were up 14-0. The Pelicans were down by 35 points. The Pelicans were down by 35 points after two quarters, the largest halftime deficit in franchise history. The Lakers’ lead grew to 40 in what ended up being a 15-point loss for New Orleans.
The loss dropped New Orleans to 11th in the West, out of the playoffs, a daunting position for a team that was leading the Western Conference at the end of December.
“I think every loss is concerning at this point considering where we are in the standings, considering who we’re playing, teams that are fighting to get in,” Pelicans point guard CJ McCollum said after the loss to the Lakers. “We have to have a sense of urgency. We’ve got to get off to a good start. We have to compete. We can’t have situations like this, down from the first quarter. It makes it very difficult to come back and win.”
The Pelicans have just 13 games left on the schedule to develop that sense of urgency, and the next four are about as appealing as they can be at this point in the season for a team trying to win games and advance to the playoffs.
New Orleans plays two games away from home against Houston (17-52) and then returns home to play San Antonio (18-51) and Charlotte (22-49). These teams have the second-, third- and fourth-worst records in the league this season, and New Orleans has a perfect 6-0 record against them this season. The Pelicans are one of five teams that have not lost to that trio and the Detroit Pistons, who have the worst record in the NBA.
But at this point in the season, wins are not guaranteed. Houston is coming off back-to-back wins over the Boston Celtics and Lakers; the Spurs defeated the West-leading Denver Nuggets last week and nearly beat the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday. Charlotte strung together a streak of five straight wins at the All-Star Game break and beat the New York Knicks on the road last week.
“The biggest game is Houston [Friday],” Pelicans forward Trey Murphy III said Tuesday. “And that’s all we can worry about right now. I’m not going to say I’m not aware of who we play after Houston because it’s a two-game road trip, but at the end of the day, that’s the team you have to focus on. You can’t take any team lightly.” .
The Pelicans have the 11th-easiest schedule in the NBA but the team directly ahead of them in the standings, the Lakers, has the third-easiest. The Mavericks, currently eighth in the West, have the fifth-easiest schedule. Therefore, the Pelicans can’t afford to give away games they are expected to win.
Some Pelicans players look at the board every night. Others only when they play. They also understand the magnitude of what lies ahead.
“We have to win every game, that’s our goal,” Pelicans forward Larry Nance Jr. said Tuesday. “Every one of these games, we can’t afford to lose. We don’t have the luxury of taking a night off or taking an easy game.”
“Consistency. Simplicity. We have to be consistent,” Pelicans coach Willie Green said Wednesday. “It’s 48 minutes of consistent play. When we do that, it doesn’t guarantee us a win, but we have opportunities to win those games. When we don’t, then it doesn’t look very good for us.”
The game against the Lakers was no exception. When the Pelicans played the Oklahoma City Thunder last Saturday, a team they were also tied with, they fell behind by double digits in the first quarter en route to a 14-point loss.
When asked about the inconsistency, McCollum pointed to several factors, including injuries. The Pelicans have outscored opponents by 60 points when McCollum, Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram have shared the court, but that trio has played a total of 172 minutes together this season, just over 5% of the Pelicans’ season total.
