Pelicans Seek To Reverse Road Woes In Houston Finale
The New Orleans Pelicans have been one of the worst teams in the NBA since the start of 2023.
Their 10 wins since the calendar turned are the league's fourth-fewest in that time, ranking only ahead of the Pistons, Spurs, and Rockets. The Pelicans' 4-15 road record and .211 winning percentage away from the Smoothie King Center are also just four notches above the bottom.
They will carry all of that, along with their current two-game overall and three-game road losing streaks, into Sunday night's series finale with the Houston Rockets.
New Orleans extended its latest skid with a shocking, 114-112 loss to these same Rockets on Friday night.
Over the course of that game the Pelicans surrendered a 22-0 first half run, and were outscored 30-13 over the final 9:38, including a final 7-0 burst within the last 90 seconds.
Offensively, the Pelicans went stagnant. They made 7-of-18 shots from the floor in the fourth quarter, far too often settling for a three-pointer instead of taking advantage of a porous Rockets interior defense. After scoring 20 points over the first three quarters, Jonas Valanciunas was held to one basket on one field goal attempt in the fourth.
On the other end of the floor, New Orleans allowed Houston to drive to the rim unbothered. When the Rockets did miss they were able to grab offensive rebounds, resetting for better looks against a shifted defense. When the Pelicans missed a shot, Houston got out in transition.
As they have been on far too many occasions, the Pelicans were outplayed and outcoached by a lesser opponent.
The Rockets are undisciplined. They play offense like friends on the blacktop, alternating possessions that end in points coming from displays of exceptional individual talent with those that end in heaves as the shot clock expires because said talent has dribbled in place for half of it.
But they kept playing. When the Pelicans jumped out to an early lead, the Rockets were able to climb back in because they kept doing the things that they had been doing.
When the Pelicans couldn't close late, it was because they stopped doing the things that had been successful.
The New Orleans Pelicans aren't good enough to take possessions or quarters off. If they're going to come back home with anything other than a matching pair of losses, the Pels need to play a full 48 minutes.
Their success in any and every game the rest of the season will largely be determined by how much and how long of an effort they're willing to put into each of them.
If the Pelicans display the same effort they did on Friday, their losing streak continues.
New Orleans Pelicans (33-37) vs Houston Rockets (18-52)
Sunday, March 19
Time: 6:00 PM CDT
Place: Toyota Center
Watch: Bally Sports NO
Listen: WRNO 99.5 FM
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