All Pelicans Fans Want For Christmas Is A Win Over The Spurs
A week ago at this time the New Orleans Pelicans were sitting in first place in the Western Conference, coming off a tough loss to the Utah Jazz that put an end to the team's longest winning streak in almost five years.
Today the Pels are licking their wounds after four straight losses and find themselves tied for the third seed in the conference standings.
Nothing has been more of a factor in the Pelicans' recent woes than their overall slippage on the defensive end.
New Orleans has allowed opponents to score at least 30 points in 10 of the last 16 quarters they've played. To put the Pels' 120.8 defensive rating in the last four games into perspective, simply understand that the worst defensive rating the franchise has posted over an entire season is 113.8.
Four games is a very small sample, but it is still a stark contrast to how well they were playing prior to last week.
Monday night against the Bucks, the Pelicans also had their seven-game home winning streak come to an end.
The offense has been good, but inconsistent. After seemingly getting quality games from five to six players on a given night, New Orleans hasn't gotten the same production from its role players lately.
Tonight's opponent, the San Antonio Spurs, have won four out their last six following an 11-game losing streak.
The Pelicans have excelled against Southwest Division opponents so far, going 5-1 with their only loss coming to the Memphis Grizzlies. They are 2-0 against the Spurs, beating them by an average of 18.5 points in a pair of road wins.
In the last meeting on Dec. 2, Zion Williamson posted a near triple-double with 30 points, 15 boards, and eight assists.
The Spurs could be without their leading scorer, Keldon Johnson, who sat out their win over the Rockets on Monday. But after two days to rest his back, it's more likely that he takes the court.
Johnson was averaging 24.2 ppg over his previous five games.
The Spurs have been playing solid offense, sitting in the top ten in both field goal percentage and three point field goal percentage during their 4-2 stretch.
On the defensive end, they've done a great job of controlling the pace of games and limiting threes, but they do give up 55 points per game in the paint, second-worst in the NBA.
The Pelicans will have to be able to exploit that advantage in ways that they haven't recently, though they may once again play without Larry Nance Jr. Nance is listed as day-to-day with Achilles soreness.
New Orleans Pelicans (18-12) vs San Antonio Spurs (10-20)
Location: Smoothie King Center
Time: 7:00 PM CT
Watch: Bally Sports NO
Listen: WRNO 99.5FM
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- Gayle Benson's Christmas Spirit on Full Display
- Zion Wins Western Conference Player of the Week Award
- Trey Murphy Making All-Star Leap
- Zion Williamson's 100-Game Report Card Has a Big Surprise
- Dyson Daniels Playing Through No-Calls In The Clutch
