The NBA’s restart format was designed to create an opportunity for teams outside the playoffs to earn their way in, a move most saw as an attempt to get Zion Williamson and the Pelicans in the playoffs.
After Saturday, New Orleans could hardly look further from the playoffs.
The Pelicans were played off the floor by the Los Angeles Clippers, albeit a title-contending side, for their second loss inside the bubble, falling 123-106. The defeat drops New Orleans to the 12th spot in the Western Conference, four games out of the eighth seed and 2.5 games out of the ninth seed with six games left.
“We’re still together,” Brandon Ingram said after the 23-point loss. “We’re still with each other. We know everything counts. That’s what we’re here for. We wouldn’t have come to the bubble if we weren’t trying to get into the playoffs. We’re staying together, coming into practice and having a sense of urgency and playing hard as if we were going against someone else and then we just try to take it from there and live with the results.”
Given the abbreviated schedule and the number of teams vying for the eighth and ninth seeds in the Western Conference, every game was a virtual must-win coming into the bubble for the Pelicans. But New Orleans exhausted every bit of leeway they entered with in just two games.
Now, Monday’s game against Memphis is not just a game with big playoff implications, it’s a game that could decide if the Pelicans even have the playoffs to push for.
“I said before, earlier, I think we have to win all the games because we have no idea (what other teams will do),” head coach Alvin Gentry said even before Saturday’s game. “The only way you can control your own destiny is you have to win the games. I said to our guys…that we’re in a playoff situation right now. It’s not playing into the playoffs. We’re in a playoff situation right now. In order to get to the next thing we want to accomplish, we have to be successful right now.”
The Pelicans again struggled with turnovers on against the Clippers, the biggest culprit to their downfall on Thursday. After 21 turnovers against the Jazz, the Pelicans saw Los Angeles turn 18 New Orleans turnovers into 34 points.
“Like I said, it was a really bad start but we have things we have to start doing better and we have to start doing them better immediately,” Gentry said after the game. “We don’t a month or two weeks or anything to go. You look at our turnovers, we’ve had 40 turnovers in the last two games. We give 31 points, 26 the other night, so we’ve given almost 60 points up off our turnovers.”
Of course, the Clippers’ franchise-record 25 three-pointers on 47 attempts were the biggest factor in the loss but the Pelicans did themselves no favors with another slow start on Saturday.
Like Thursday, the Pelicans fell behind double-digits early. Unlike Thursday, there was no battling back as Paul George buried 8-of-11 three-pointers for 28 points in just 26 minutes while Kawhi Leonard added 24 points in 27 minutes. Neither star played in the fourth quarter.
The Pelicans, who lost by a franchise-worst 46 points earlier in the season to Dallas, flirted with that mark through three quarters, trailing by as many as 42 points. But New Orleans’ bench made the loss look mildly respectable by outscoring Los Angeles 37-23 in the final frame.
The end result, though, was all the same as the loss takes out all the wiggle room for the Pelicans in chasing a playoff spot. Only two starters reached double figures in Ingram with 14 and Derrick Favors with 12. JJ Redick scored 11 points in 17 minutes.
New Orleans has two days to get things right with Memphis awaiting on Monday. The Grizzlies fell in overtime in their opener and will play the Spurs on Sunday before meeting the Pelicans in the second night of a back-to-back on Monday.
Losses to San Antonio and New Orleans, two sides chasing Memphis for the playoffs, could entirely change the narrative. But for now, the Pelicans can only focus on themselves.
“We know we can’t lose too many more games,” Ingram said. “We probably can’t lose any more games. So, we just have to have a sense of urgency and come in here on Monday and fight for everything we’re trying to get.”
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