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The New Orleans Pelicans are being left with few options as the season drags on. However, the definition of insanity is so well known that it's cliche, but it applies to Willie Green's draft lottery-bound Pelicans in late-game situations. New Orleans had the Sacramento Kings on the ropes but failed to pull out a win in the Smoothie King Center. Green did have two extra timeouts in his back pocket when the buzzer sounded, though, and that is the problem.
Not using every available asset to win games is starting to become a worrying trend, especially in what ended up being a 111-109 loss by the last-placed Pelicans (5-21). Green explained the end-game decision-making with no regrets despite a similar outcome against the San Antonio Spurs.
“I was kind of caught in between, “Green said. “We got the stop, got the rebound, and once the ball got to Dejounte, it's in one of our better players hands. You know, I just kind of let them go. I'm fine with his ability to make those plays at the end of games but it could have went either way. I could have called a timeout and probably put us in a better position but it also allows their defense to be set.”
“Some of our best offense is when we rebound the ball,” added Green. “We put teams on their heels. Unfortunately, we just did not make the play at the end of the game.”
Pelicans trending in wrong direction
A similar situation popped up against the San Antonio Spurs on December 8. Willie Green had two timeouts available with just under 37 seconds remaining on the clock. There was a two-for-one possession opportunity if the Pelicans used one timeout to advance the ball to midcourt. Calling a play in the huddle would have hopefully gotten everyone on the same page in a one-point game (117-116).
There was no timeout taken. Murray got the ball from McCollum on the inbound. McCollum ran to the near-side corner three spot. Murray walked the ball up and into a Yves Missi pick-and-roll with 28 seconds left. New Orleans never attempted a pass or cut as Murray missed a fallaway elbow jumper.
Missi was forced to foul Victor Wembanyama to extend the game.
Still, CJ McCollum was not letting Green take all the blame after the home loss against the Kings.
“The two highest-paid players on the court touched the ball. I got the rebound and I passed it to Dejounte (Murray). We’ve just got to do a better job of giving each other space and that is key,” McCollum stated. “We’ve got to get a shot and we didn’t get a shot, so that is the tough part. We have all of the confidence in the world in DJ. We have all of the confidence in the world in the rest of our guys. So, to make the right play we got to do a better job. Willie is going to trust us down the stretch, and we have to do a better job of giving him a reason to trust us.”
It is becoming hard for loyal fans to trust a team ravaged by injuries and making the same mistakes. Green has to get the late-game decisions right in the moment or the Pelicans might not win another game before calendars flip to 2025. New Orleans has only one more game against a team with a losing record and the Indiana Pacers (10-15) are starting to get their season trending in the right direction.
