It hasn't been the greatest past 24 hours for the New Orleans Pelicans. Not only did they suffer one of their most disappointing defeats of the season on Thursday night, a 121-106 loss against the Orlando Magic, they had to hold their breath as they waited for the official diagnosis on Brandon Ingram's injury (a knee contusion). But on Friday night, the Pelicans got back on track after they defeated the Miami Heat, 111-88.
This time, there were no extracurriculars to steal the show in what was a routine win for the Pelicans. As one would recall, their prior contest against the Heat (a 106-95 loss) was defined by a heated altercation involving Jimmy Butler and Naji Marshall that spilled over into a boxing match between Jose Alvarado and Thomas Bryant.
Now, the Pelicans were able to make the most of their opportunity to get one back over the Heat. And in so doing, they even turned Butler's words against him in an A-plus act of trolling from the Pelicans' Twitter (X) account.
“We're just a better team,” their tweet reads.
This statement is in reference to what Jimmy Butler said after the Heat took an 11-point victory over the Pelicans back on February 23. Butler boldly proclaimed that the Heat were “a better team” and that they'll “beat them next time too”. Clearly, this did not age well, and the administrator of the Pelicans' Twitter (X) account makes sure to feed Butler back his words.
Pelicans played with a purpose
Without Brandon Ingram, many expected that the Pelicans will be heavily reliant on Zion Williamson to shoulder first-option duties. However, Williamson, despite the glowing reviews he has received as of late, struggled against the Heat, scoring just four points on 2-7 shooting.
Nonetheless, the Pelicans still made light work of the Heat thanks to CJ McCollum, Jose Alvarado, and Naji Marshall. McCollum dropped 30 points, continuing the Pelicans' trend of winning basketball when he scores plenty, while Alvarado and Marshall, the two most prominent Pelicans players involved in the February 23 scuffle, combined for 30.
Replacing a player of Ingram's caliber was always going to take a team effort. With the playoffs approaching, the Pelicans will not be rushing Ingram back in his recovery amid a two-week minimum absence, so the New Orleans supporting cast will have to continue their strong play moving forward as they remain in the bubble for homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
Heat put up a stinker
It's around this time of the year when Heat fans expect their teams to hunker down and play their best brand of basketball. But over the past few weeks, the Heat have struggled mightily. The team's depth is being tested heavily amid injuries to Tyler Herro and Kevin Love, among others, and the result on Friday night was a discombobulated effort in a crushing 23-point blowout loss against the Pelicans.
Head coach Erik Spoelstra loves talking about grinding out wins even when the team is “in the mud”; on Friday night, they were stuck in quicksand, unable to get anything going. Credit must go to the Pelicans' defense, but the Heat will still be disappointed with themselves after shooting a poor 36 percent from the field and 28 percent from deep.
Jimmy Butler didn't show up as well; in addition to being the subject of an epic clapback from the Pelicans' Twitter (X) account, Butler was held in check to 17 points on 5-12 shooting.
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