With the NBA’s return now official, the New Orleans Pelicans will be apart of the 22-team field. The hyper-abbreviated regular season will feature an eight-game sprint to the finish line. New Orleans, and the rest of the teams chasing the eighth seed, were given a lifeline as they need only be four games back of the eighth seed by the end of the sprint to enter a play-in tournament.
As it stands, the Pelicans, Trail Blazers and Kings all sit 3.5 games back of the Grizzlies. New Orleans will have a chance to play both the Grizzlies and Kings multiple times in the eight-game span and will have a chance to make up ground in the race.
There will be lots of questions surrounding not just the Pelicans but the rest of the NBA. But focusing in on the Pelicans, here are three questions they’ll need to answer to make a playoff run.
1. Was the post-Zion period just a hot streak?
After Zion Williamson joined the team, the Pelicans were one of the hottest teams in the NBA, sporting a top ten net rating and a starting lineup that was one of the best in the league. The Pelicans were certainly riding a wave of momentum throughout the run.
The challenge not just for New Orleans but the rest of the league will be finding that momentum once again. Getting back into the groove that the team found itself in will be a challenge especially for a young team. If they can prove that it wasn’t just a hot streak they were on and the Williamson-included Pelicans are legitimate, then they will likely found themselves in the playoff picture.
2. Can they execute in the clutch?
With or without Williamson this year, the Pelicans have struggled mightily down the stretch in close games. In what NBA Stats describes as clutch situations, the Pelicans have the second-lowest net rating at -21.7 while also playing the ninth-most minutes at 134.
In a normal finish to the regular season, New Orleans might have had games against poor teams that would be considered blowouts. In the setting that this season will end in, they will likely be playing eight very close games. The necessity to execute down the stretch will take on even greater importance.
There are multiple factors that come into play but the bottom line is, the Pelicans struggle to create good looks down the stretch. Ironing out that key weakness will be paramount in any playoff push.
3. Is there enough left in the tank?
It’s hard to determine what the Pelicans, or any team, will have left in the tank to close the season. Given the odd circumstances surrounding the team, having a three-month layoff before playing eight critically important games will certainly test teams in ways unseen before.
For the Pelicans, being a younger side would, in theory, help them. But players aren’t using to play high-level games in July and certainly won’t be used to doing so in the gyms they will be playing in. It’ll be a struggle to focus mentally as well as physically to close the season.
Can New Orleans put all that together for the eight-game sprint? Is there enough left in the tank for the young players as well as the veterans to make that push? July will certainly be a telling time for the team and franchise moving forward.
