A few months ago, the New Orleans Pelicans were at the top of the Western Conference standings and looked like a legitimate contender for the NBA championship. Now at 33-36 on the season, it’s fair to say that a lot has changed for them over the course of a few weeks.
On Tuesday, despite being an important seeding game, the Pels completely dropped the ball and fell behind early in an offensive onslaught by the Lakers. After the game, Pels veteran CJ McCollum felt compelled to call out his teammates and demand a better showing moving forward.
“We’ve got to get off to better starts. I feel like every loss is concerning at this stage, considering where we’re at in the standings,” McCollum said, per The Athletic. “We need to compete. We can’t get into situations where we’re down like we were down tonight. In the first quarter, we’re getting blown out. It makes it very difficult to come back in those types of situations. They scored in the half court. They scored in transition. They scored in the paint, and they hit (15) threes in the first half. They did a little bit of everything. … You can’t beat anybody giving up 75 points in a half.”
Of course, the Pelicans have dealt with various injuries all year long (including to their star player, Zion Williamson), so it makes sense that they’d fall off at least somewhat.
But the Pels have done more than just “fall off.” They are 10-23 since Zion went down and McCollum says it has to do with a lack of focus and accountability.
“I think it’s more about us focusing in — us challenging each other, us holding each other accountable,” McCollum said. “We’re going to win games, we’re going to lose games. We just can’t lose the way we started this game tonight.”
Can The Pelicans Make A Run This Postseason?
Even without Z, the Pels have a pretty solid squad. Guys like CJ, Brandon Ingram, Jonas Valanciunas, Larry Nance Jr., and Herb Jones are all quality players who should be capable of holding down the fort better than they have this season.
The truth is, despite how “deep” the roster may be, it’s pretty obvious that this Pleicans team will only go as far as Zion takes them. So far, that hasn’t been very far since Williamson spends most of his time in street clothes anyway.
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