James Borrego Is Pressing All the Right Buttons in Pelicans' Recent Surge

The New Orleans Pelicans' interim head coach deserves a ton of credit for the winning streak.

Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

The New Orleans Pelicans won their fourth straight game of the season to improve to 7-22 and move out of the bottom of the Western Conference for the first time in weeks. The blowout win over the Indiana Pacers on Saturday further established the new era of Pelicans basketball under interim head coach James Borrego.

Since taking over from Willie Green after the 2-10 start to the season, Borrego has turned the Pelicans into a more competitive team. The wins took a while to come, but even when they were losing, the Pels looked like a different team under their new head coach.

James Borrego Is a Big Reason for Pelicans' Recent Success

A big part of this change came on the offensive end. The Pelicans now play with a ton of pace and intentionality, both in the full and the half court. They push the ball, make quick decisions, and attack the basket relentlessly. No team takes more shots at the rim than the Pelicans since Borrego took charge. Against the Pacers, the Pelicans took 29 shots at the rim and 34 free throws, per Cleaning the Glass. Making 79% of their rim attempts on Saturday, the Pels had a 120.8 offensive rating.

This has been an ongoing trend. Since December 1, the Pels have a 119.6 offensive rating, good for the sixth-best offense in the league. Over the last two weeks, the Pelicans have actually been the best offense in the NBA.

The returns of Jordan Poole and Zion Williamson have obviously helped, but the way Borrego has integrated them has been impressive. Despite being the two highest-paid players in the rotation, Williamson and Poole continue to come off the bench. Borrego has not changed the Jeremiah Fears-Herb Jones-Trey Murphy-Saddiq Bey-Derik Queen lineup that has been working very well in recent weeks.

Getting the buy-in from Poole and Williamson to come off the bench while a 19-year-old rookie point guard and Saddiq Bey start in their place is not easy. Not only has Borrego managed this dynamic well, but he also got Williamson to play his best game of the season against Indiana, scoring 29 points in 23 minutes of action.

Borrego has found a rotation that is working and is getting the most out of his players so far. The Pelicans still have a long way to go, but the team has hit its stride in recent games, and Borrego deserves a ton of credit for getting the team to play hard amid massive struggles to start the season.