After hitting the lowest point of the season following a loss at Golden State, New Orleans has followed it with its strongest stretch of the season with three-straight wins, all against playoff teams. It’s a stretch that has been as impressive as it’s been unexpected, largely because of how the team is getting its wins.
Spending most of the season near the bottom of the league in defensive rating, the Pelicans have held four of their last five points to 100 points or fewer, all four of those resulting in wins. Lonzo Ball noted the defense being the key to the team’s turnaround during shootaround before Saturday’s game against the Pacers.
“I think effort. I think dropping the bigs (back closer to the rim) is helping us too, and (Derrick Favors) getting back and being a lot healthier.
“I’m just trying to do my best to get to the ball (defensively) and get easy points for us. The whole team has. I think we do feel more comfortable, knowing that if we do get beat (off the dribble), D Fave is back there protecting us.”
Over the five-game stretch, the Pelicans rank second in the league in defensive rating at 97.8, trailing only the Bucks with a rating of 96.7. Prior to this recent stretch, the Pelicans had a defensive rating of 114.4, third-worst in the league.
The numbers also back up Favors’ impact on the court this season defensively. The Pelicans are just shy of two points per 100 possessions worse defensively this season with Favors off the floor.
Interestingly, over the last five games, Ball has the second-lowest defensive rating on the team at 92.7. The Pelicans are also 8.4 points per 100 possessions worse defensively with Ball off the court.
Clearly, it’s been a team effort for the Pelicans to reel off their most impressive winning streak of the season.
