The New Orleans Pelicans played the Dallas Mavericks, a team down four starters, on Wednesday night, and the Pelicans managed to get crushed.
The New Orleans Pelicans, by every reasonable stream of thought, should have blown the Dallas Mavericks out on Wednesday night. Dallas had just played a game that went into double overtime the night before, and they were without four of their five starters. To top it all off, the Pelicans had beat the very same Mavericks team on Saturday night when the Mavericks were not shorthanded.
The game on Saturday was fantastic and seemed to be the kind of win the Pelicans could build upon. Instead, in a reoccurring trend, the Pelicans collapsed back into the realm of awful. Games like this reaffirm what many fans have feared: not only are the Pelicans not a good team, they may not even be an average team. The wheels are really starting to come off, and the season isn’t even halfway over.
Other Observations:
- The New Orleans Pelicans are in a death spiral. There is no way around that, and it’s difficult to see them getting out of it.
- This was, by far, the worst loss of the season for the Pelicans. In a game that should have been a blowout, the Pelicans collapsed.
- Anthony Davis can’t take halves off. He did against Dallas, and it cost the Pelicans the game. It may be unfair for him to carry the team for the entire duration, but that is what a superstar does.
- Tyreke Evans looked good in his return after his brief layoff; let’s hope he keeps it up.