The New Orleans Pelicans will be a team to watch ahead of the NBA playoffs as the contenders start to separate from the pretenders.
The Boston Celtics are running away from the Eastern Conference's middle class, with only the Milwaukee Bucks within 10 games. Meanwhile, The Oklahoma City Thunder, Denver Nuggets, and Minnesota Timberwolves have been playing musical chairs in the top three Western Conference spots. Between aging cores, injuries, and surprising upstarts, there are not more than three darkhorse contenders the top squads will be looking to avoid.
The Miami Heat with Eric Spoelstra, Jimmy Butler, and Bam Adebayo will always be dangerous in the East. Out West, the Los Angeles Clippers are betting on Kawhi Leonard staying healthy. Russell Westbrook (fractured hand) may not return this season. James Harden (shoulder) and Norman Powell (ankle) have been listed as questionable on recent injury reports. The Pelicans are perhaps the only team NBA Finals hopefuls will be looking to avoid in the first two rounds.
There is a long list of reasons why no one wants to play a postseason game in New Orleans. The locker room heard Willie Green's message loud and clear. Zion Williamson is dealing better with adversity to be more of an on-court leader. Brandon Ingram is making history as a strong second option after the Big Three was challenged by Herb Jones. And now Trey Murphy III is again making rival coaches miserable. Green's teams will always be defense first but CJ McCollum credits a pick-your-poison offense for the team's recent surge, per the Pelicans on YouTube.
“(The Pelicans clicking offense) makes it very difficult. They have to pick their poison,” McCollum explained. “It’s hard for them to close out on our shooters. It’s hard for them to protect the paint on Z. It’s hard for them to protect the paint when B.I. is driving it downhill.
“I think (Williamson and Ingram) are making the right decisions on when to score, when to pass, and I think it makes the game easier for everybody,” McCollum continued. “And then Trey (Murphy) going to get shots. You got Naji (Marshall), who is going to push the tempo and make shots. You got Jose (Alvarado) who’s going to come in and change the game, and so on and so forth. So, I think it’s a collaborative effort to where offensively we really haven’t had that many issues, and sometimes we can get stagnant, but we have the talent to figure it out. I think it’s just continuing to keep our defensive identity, getting stops.”
Zion Williamson, defense fuels offense
McCollum ended with a comment about defensive identity and getting stops. Those are two hallmarks of practically every coaching staff Green has been on. It's a given. Zion Williamson was not over the first two years of Green's head coaching career. Now the two-time All-Star is on track to clear the All-NBA 65-game threshold for the first time since being drafted. Green has continually complimented the work ethic that has led to Williamson's increased availability this season.
“(Williamson) is continuing to stack his days, and we’re seeing the results of that. Quite frankly, whatever he decides to do on the floor when he is right, he can do it. The rebounding is another component to that. You guys are watching him get offensive rebounds, second-chance points, defensive rebounds, igniting our break. He’s playing really good basketball right now.”
The electric offensive plays get the attention. Williamson and Ingram's off-ball defensive work is raising the team's postseason ceiling though, and it makes everything from dealing with double teams to the national media easier. Williamson is changing narratives with the two-way play, and averaging approximately 28 points and nine rebounds over the past five games. Ingram is casually producing history-making nights.
Williamson's career high is 43 points against the Timberwolves (12/28/23). Ingram's is a 49-point night versus the Utah Jazz (1/16/20). McCollum dropped an even 50 points on the Chicago Bulls while playing with the Portland Trail Blazers. The Big Three is where the scouting report starts for any playoff opponent but nowhere near where it ends.
Pelicans have long list of lethal options behind Big Three
Trey Murphy III (41), Jonas Valanciunas (39), Jose Alvarado (38), Herb Jones (35), and rookie Jordan Hawkins (34) have all posted 30+ point games in the past few years. Looking forward, Murphy III's shooting slump is a long-forgotten blip on the schedule. Jones is 2024's best shooter and the terror known league-wide as Not on Herb still provides All-World defense as well. Nance Jr. is back to posterizing people and added a pop-out perimeter game this season.
That is a tough scouting assignment for one game, much less a seven-game series. And Green can vary the rotations from traditional to the just try stuff experiments of late. Williamson and Ingram have both played small-ball center on defense. Jones has in the past. Those repetitions will pay off if and/or when the Pelicans run up against NBA MVP Nikola Jokic's Denver Nuggets.
Meanwhile, the fast-paced Pacers (Pascal Siakam/Myles Turner) and Cavaliers (Jarrett Allen/Evan Mobley) both deployed more athletic front-courts so Larry Nance Jr. and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl both got more court time.
Valanciunas is a well-tested traditional center with some range but is an acquired vanilla taste. Sometimes Green is just not in the mood and wants to try different rotational flavors. Valanciunas has to be paired with the right lineups and the right matchups, especially in an NBA Playoffs series. That's why Green has been experimenting of late. No one doubts the abilities of the well-traveled big man but the Pelicans need to know what other options might hold up in the postseason.
Alvarado, Naji Marshall, Dyson Daniels, and Matt Ryan can all make teams pay in their own way. Alvarado is a pest. Marshall plays basketball like it's a knife fight. Daniels paired with Jones is a nightmare. Ryan is a ready-made gunner capable of firing away in short, efficient spurts. The Pelicans have had a handful of players locked in the past few games and they are running teams off the court early. New Orleans is regularly putting up 35 and 40-point quarters since beating the Pacers on March 1.
Luka Doncic, Kevin Durant, LeBron James, and Steph Curry are looking at NBA Play-In Tournament elimination games if none of their teams clip the Sacramento Kings for sixth. Obviously, facing a future Hall of Famer or two is always a challenge championship teams have to overcome.
But only Doncic is on the right side of 30 years old among those possible Play-In bound All-Stars. That's the thing about the old days, they got old. The pick-your-poison Pelicans might be the most dangerous team going forward.
Follow Us
Subscribe