The New Orleans Pelicans were banished from town for most of the Mardi Gras season. They have played just one home game since losing to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Jan. 26. The front office stood pat at the trade deadline and Willie Green led the team through eight road games and a home date with a 6-3 record. The locker room cannot look forward to the NBA All-Star break vacations yet, but it's safe to say the Pelicans battled through one of the toughest parts of the schedule with ease.

The first part of the Pelicans' Mardi Gras getaway schedule started rough. Road losses to the Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics followed that loss to the Thunder. The Houston Rockets were up next, and climbing the standings right behind the Pelicans. New Orleans played through Jonas Valanciunas to earn an 11-point win. Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram have lost only once since then, going 6-1 in the last two weeks.

Brandon Ingram's 41-point game highlights 6-1 stretch for Pelicans

Pelicans' Brandon Ingram

Brandon Ingram made the lone Mardi Gras trip to the Smoothie King Center worth it, producing a historic 41-point night to beat the Toronto Raptors on Feb. 5. Up next is the Washington Wizards, then those NBA All-Star break plans can be the focus. Beat the lowly Wizards and the Pelicans will be relaxing by a pool in fifth place out West. But everyone can use a break, according to Green after the latest win.

“It’s that time of season. A couple games before the break. Every team’s a bit fatigued, but first credit to [the Grizzlies]. They are a scrappy team,” Green explained. “They’re well coached. They’re disciplined. They go out and play hard, they fought for 48 minutes. Credit to our guys in the locker room. We didn’t start well, then we got it going and came out in the third quarter playing well. Then the wheels fell off, but we found a way at the end to win the game, and that’s an important part for us.”

The Pelicans will have room to breathe above the NBA Play-In Tournament line too. The Phoenix Suns and Sacramento Kings play each other on Feb. 13, Mardi Gras day. The Kings also play the Denver Nuggets before going on break. New Orleans will be cheering for Sacramento since they have the fewest wins of the trio. One of these franchises will fall into the NBA Play-In spot, and the pressure is on with less than 30 games remaining for all teams. The Suns and Kings have two of the top-five toughest schedules remaining.

Some of the wins by the Pelicans were ugly, but that wire-to-wire win over the Los Angeles Clippers was impressive. Falling to the desperate Los Angeles Lakers two days later is not surprising. There were struggles against the Memphis Grizzlies and Portland Trail Blazers, but stacking road wins any way possible is a sure-fire way to earn a top-six seed. The team deserves at least that much respect, per Green.

“You can't discredit the team,” Green stated. “They go out and play hard, play scrappy. It was the last game of a four-game trip for us, a game before the All-Star break, a couple of games before the All-Star break, rather. So, it's just that time of year where you have to find ways to win, no matter who the opponent is. I gave our guys a lot of credit in the locker room. That's what they did tonight.”