Willie Green's New Orleans Pelicans of the past two years were noticeably hamstrung by their lack of three-point shooting. The front office kept the core of the team together this summer but brought in James Borrego to overhaul the offensive approach. The roster remained mostly intact, but everyone knew they'd be tested on two big fronts this season: three-point attempts and responding after losses.
Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram have battled through or watched too many multi-game losing streaks since coming to New Orleans. They've also cycled through three coaches and made just three All-Star games combined. Green, Williamson, and Ingram also never had this many high-percentage shooters to build out a supporting cast either. But could they create enough opportunities and win the necessary games to change some negative narratives? Asked and answered per Williamson and Green.
“You guys (the media) started this with a conversation we had earlier about the offensive closing of games. We held up our end of the bargain,” the third-year coach declared. “But it was just an incredible performance by the guys in that locker room, sharing the basketball, touching and kicking out for threes, rebounding the ball, and I continue to say it: it goes back to our defense. When we can get stops, we can rebound, and we play in the open floor. It’s some of our best basketball, it was a really fun game to be a part of.”
Pelicans exceeding expectations, showing resiliency
Their best basketball is yet to come but, despite the Pelicans' admitted weaknesses, Green's group has arguably exceeded expectations so far this season. New Orleans has not let tough losses get them down, and that resiliency is paying off. The Pelicans have only lost back-to-back games twice since a 4-6 start. There was the two-game road set against the Utah Jazz without CJ McCollum or Trey Murphy III for both and Williamson for one. Then there was the two-point home loss to the Houston Rockets followed by Ja Morant's overtime game-winner for the Memphis Grizzlies.
All forgivable, understandable losses. The Pelicans have bounced back to string together victories after almost every defeat, including a four-game streak after a 44-point NBA In-Season Tournament loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. Shaking off a somewhat fluky night versus the Phoenix Suns was just another little pop quiz to the season's bigger tests.
New Orleans had a few days to freshen up on some material and used the time wisely. CJ McCollum broke down the study habits that helped the Pelicans the most in the most recent win over the Jazz.
“The ball moved a lot tonight in transition and the half court. The guys did a great job of driving and kicking. Setting good screens, and then once you get some easy baskets, it begins to feel very easy,” McCollum explained. “But that’s just a lot of hard work behind the scenes on everybody; our staff, our players, taking advantage of these three days to really get in the gym and improve. I didn’t like the way we shot as a team, 10-for-42 (in the game against Phoenix), I didn’t like the way I shot personally, 1-for-7 from three in the last game, so I wanted to make sure that I put some work in and really focused on some stuff to come out and play better.”
Pelicans shooting more triples
Green talked at practice about how sometimes a team will get the same looks over an 82-game season and those shots just do not fall on occasion. Good teams revert back up to the mean, and the New Orleans are now fourth-best in three-point percentage. The success rate suggests that more really is the better offensive option, but they are 24th in threes attempted per 100 possessions. The Pelicans have another 35-40 games to find out how much they'll want to lean on the strategy in a seven-game series.
Save those worries for later, though. The Pelicans are 14th in threes attempted over the last 10 games and ninth over the last five. The focus Tuesday night was on celebrating a franchise record-setting 153 points and a win in front of a raucous Smoothie King Center crowd.
“It was just an incredible performance by the guys in that locker room,” shared Green in the postgame press scrum. “Sharing the basketball, touching the paint, kicking out for threes, rebounding the ball… fun game to be a part of.”
The Pelicans now know their comfort levels with a big increase in three-point quantity and how to approach life after losses. The next two tests? Sustaining this progress and proving this team's concept can work in the NBA Playoffs. It'll take a while to grade those group projects, but their fans should have fun watching this young, developing team experiment.
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