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New Orleans Pelicans guard CJ McCollum entered their Tuesday night clash against the Memphis Grizzlies as one of the most inefficient scorers in the NBA, clearly going through one of the worst slumps of his career. Through 13 games, McCollum has only averaged 17.8 points – the lowest since his second season – on the worst shooting percentages of his career. The 31-year old combo guard was only shooting 39.1 percent from the field and 27.9 percent from downtown, which adds up to a terrible 46.3 percent true shooting percentage.
In fact, McCollum hasn't yet cracked the 30-point barrier this season, and his past four games, in particular, have been dismal, having averaged 9.5 points on a mere 27 percent from the field, However, McCollum came alive in a big way against the Grizzlies. He scored 30 points on 11-23 shooting (7-13 from deep) to go along with 9 dimes, leading the Pelicans to a 113-102 victory.
During his postgame presser, CJ McCollum was extremely self-aware of his struggles over the past week or so, and he became arguably his biggest critic of his uncharacteristic shooting performances despite going through an illness in recent days.
“I’ve been playing like s–t,” McCollum said, per NOLA.com. “I’ve been feeling like s–t. I have been shooting the ball really poorly, which is uncharacteristic. I’m normally not good at the other things, but I can always shoot. That was frustrating: not being able to help my team the way I wanted to but not having the energy.”
The Pelicans earned a huge win despite missing the services of Zion Williamson due to a foot injury, thanks in no small part to CJ McCollum's redemptive performance. More regression to the mean in terms of McCollum's shooting numbers can be expected, especially with his track record of being one of the league's most reliable shooters.
McCollum will look to carry over this level of play as they face the Chicago Bulls tomorrow night on the second night of a back-to-back.
