The New Orleans Pelicans could have given up when DeMarcus Cousins went down with a season-ending injury to his Achilles tendon. But although they lost five of their first six when Cousins went down, Jrue Holiday and the rest of the team decided enough was enough.
Since that tough stretch, the Pelicans have won 11 of 13 games and are in contention for having home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Holiday revealed that once Cousins got injured, several members of the team talked about what they had to do moving forward, per Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports.
“A.D. and I had a big conversation, including Rondo and Gentry, and we talked about staying positive,” Holiday said. “We really felt like we lost a big piece in DeMarcus. We’ve been rolling right now, but with him we started to get in a groove. That Houston game was a real important staple, showing us we can compete against anyone in the league with DeMarcus. We’ve had a lot of challenges over the years, dealing with injuries in previous years and this year with Solomon [Hill] and our rookie, Frank [Jackson]. We dealt with challenges just coming into the season with different players, and even though we finished the year well with DeMarcus last season, we had to figure ourselves out again.”
They have figured themselves out. They won 10 in a row, including wins over the Miami Heat, San Antonio Spurs, Milwaukee Bucks and L.A. Clippers.
Cousins may be out, but something good is happening in New Orleans right now. And that good thing is largely Anthony Davis, who has played lights out during this current stretch. In the last 12 games, has scored at least 40 points five times, including a 53-point outburst.
Some thought the pairing of Davis, Cousins and Rondo would not work. But looks like so far, with Cousins healthy, this Pelicans team can make some real noise.
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