Pelicans Must Learn to Win Without Star Players

Injuries in team sports often allow young talent being groomed to grow and mature. Trey Murphy III and Devonte Graham took advantage of being without Brandon Ingram and CJ McCollum in the last night's lineup. The young players gave the Pelicans 62 minutes of action and scored 42% of the 120 points against the Hornets.

Murphy drained seven 3-pointers on his way to a 32-point, nine-rebound, and two assists eye-opening performance.

"He's been working extremely hard. You're starting to see it more as he progresses throughout the season. He's played in some G League games, which helped him stay sharp. He just played free tonight, and he plays hard. In that previous game, he came out, played hard, gave great effort, and it just carried over. So, we're all proud to see Trey come out and play like he did tonight," coach Willie Green said about Murphy's performance.

Again, Herbert Jones put in work like Herbert Jones. He continued to shine with 12 points, two rebounds, and one steal on the evening. Yet, his contributions with eight assists helped his teammates.

In Friday's contest against Mr. Ball, there were glimpses of future stardom on Smoothie King's hardwood, but tweaking a few game issues will be necessary for Green and his staff.

PELICANS LAST 8 GAMES

The Pelicans' pendulum has swung from four-straight wins to four-straight losses. Three out of the four recent losses were without leading scorer F Brandon Ingram; New Orleans missed their leaders if you add holding back CJ McCollum due to health concerns on Friday.

Opponents	Final Point Differential	Points Allowed in 1st Qtr	Pelicans Rebounding	Field Goal % Allowed
Charlotte	27	25	40	59.8
Orlando	16	30	41	47.4
Memphis	36	44	45	47.5
Denver	21	35	49	54.0
Utah	1	17	52	34.8
Sacramento	6	33	50	39.3
Los Angeles	4	20	51	41.7
Phoenix	4	22	53	43.9

In the four-consecutive wins, the Pelicans' average final point differential was 3.75 points compared to 25 points in the four-game losing streak.
New Orleans averages allowing 52.2% of the opponents' field goals during the losses, compared to the 39.9% average allowed in the 4-game win streak.
Moreso, the team has allowed rivals to get out to fast starts and create separation in the first quarter by allowing a 33.5 points per game average in the losing streak. In contrast to the win-streak, the Pels yielded a 23 point average to the opposition. That's a delta of 10 points surrendered in the first quarter alone.
New Orleans' average rebounds per game are down to 43.75 RPG (losing streak) versus 51.5 RPG (win streak).

Hence, a subpar defense and a failure to crash the boards has stalled the Pelicans' progress.

The upstart Pelicans must play better defense and crash the boards. Brandon Ingram won't be returning soon.

Green's young players must grow up fast and begin to play with Ingram and McCollum's same intensity and intelligence to keep pace with the Lakers for a shot at the play-in game.

"Continue to be the next man up. [Trey Murphy III] played great tonight. [We] need to throw this loss out the window and get ready for Sunday," forward Naji Marshall remarked.

PELICANS LAST 8 GAMES

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