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The New Orleans Pelicans have recently fallen back down to earth after what was a scorching run that took them all the way to the top of the Western Conference. Since then, they have lost four straight games and have been knocked all the way down to fourth in the West.
Zion Williamson and the Pels’ last loss came at the hands of Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday 128-119. It was far from the best way for New Orleans to mark their first game back at home following a winless three-game road trip:
“I told the guys that,” Green said, via Christian Clark of nola.com. “I loved our energy, our fight, our effort. We just have to sustain it for 48 minutes. The moment we decided to pick it up in the fourth quarter, we were right back in the game. I just didn’t think we sustained it for 48 minutes.”
The Pelicans, who are still missing the services of All-Star forward Brandon Ingram, had no answer for Giannis, who dropped a monster 42-point, 10-rebound double-double all over them. Not even Jonas Valanciunas’ 37-point explosion was enough to help New Orleans to victory. For his part, Zion finished with 18 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists.
Despite their recent slump, however, coach Willie Geen isn’t sweating it too much:
“We’ll be fine. This is how it goes,” Green said. “We have to be able to accept some of the bad with the good. We had seven straight wins. We leave and have a couple really tough losses on the road. At home, another tough loss. We have to climb our way out of it.”
The Pelicans’ next chance to get back to winning ways will be on Thursday when they host a struggling San Antonio Spurs side.