Riding hot into 2020, the New Orleans Pelicans are giving fans a lot more reasons to watch, especially with Zion due to debut this month.
The New Orleans Pelicans are playing their basketball of the season and that’s about as good of news as this team can have heading into the new year, or so they thought.
Granted, the team probably wishes they started with a little more consistency than they’ve had up to this point, plummeting to the bottom of the West.
However, since they spelled their 13-game losing streak with a win over the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Pelicans have become a significantly better basketball team, especially on the defensive end of the floor.
Since the losing streak was snapped, the Pelicans have jumped to 11-23, winning five of their last six and take a four-game winning streak into the next decade.
The wins aren’t coming the easy way either, as the New Orleans Pelicans posted wins over solid Western Conference opponents including the Portland Trail Blazers and Houston Rockets, in addition to a dominant win over a very solid Indiana Pacers team.
It helps that the team is really starting to see Lonzo Ball get comfortable as the team’s leading point guard, while E’Twaun Moore is drilling threes in impressive minutes off the bench. Overall, Alvin Gentry’s defensive focus and in-game adjustments are starting to push his team to victory.
While the team used the first pick in the 2019 NBA Draft to bring Zion Williamson to New Orleans, he has yet to appear on a basketball court since his preseason right knee injury… until he made his first appearance back in a Pelicans practice uniform yesterday.
Gentry Zion Williamson was able to go through a full practice today. First time since his surgery.
— Will Guillory (@WillGuillory) January 2, 2020
Seeming due back for a return halfway through this month, the introduction of the star rookie could be enough to push this Pelicans team from the bottom of the pack to leading the bunch sometime over the next stretch of weeks.
Heading into January, there’s a lot to look forward to from the New Orleans Pelicans. Hopefully, the team keeps finding ways to beat quality opponents, which they’ll see plenty of over the next month of the season.
New Orleans Pelicans @ Los Angeles Lakers – Friday, January 3 @ 9:30 p.m. CT (ESPN)
Tonight, the New Orleans Pelicans will get the chance to redeem their Thanksgiving-eve loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, owners of both LeBron James and the exported Anthony Davis. Last time these two went toe-to-toe, Davis made an impressive leap to deflect a New Orleans inbound pass with under a minute left to seal a win in regulation.
While the Lakers left the Big Easy with a 114-110 win, the Pelicans got 23 points and 10 rebounds out of Brandon Ingram, who will be motivated to return to face his former team in the Staples Center tonight.
Against the Lakers, Jrue Holiday posted his best game of the season so far, scoring 29 points, 12 assists, and 6 rebounds while playing tremendous defense on his former running mate in Davis.
The Lakers are currently first in the Western Conference at 27-7, but New Orleans is surging and seem to be focused on pursuing the eighth seed that’s just 3.5 games away from their control. If the New Orleans Pelicans can take advantage of the one week spot on this Lakers roster, their lack of guard depth, Holiday, Lonzo Ball and J.J. Redick could fuel an upset.
New Orleans Pelicans @ Boston Celtics – Saturday, January 11 @ 6 p.m. CT
In a little over a week, the New Orleans Pelicans play the middle game of a three-game Eastern Conference road trip against the Boston Celtics, who at 23-8 currently stand as the second-overall playoff seed.
Currently ranking fourth in offensive and third in defensive rating, the Celtics might be one of the biggest tests New Orleans will see before returning Zion to action (though who knows, he could be back by then if everything goes great).
Giving an extra edge to this game, the Celtics once engaged the Pelicans about a potential Davis swap, which assumes the team would’ve offered one or both of Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum to New Orleans; it’ll be interesting to see how the Pelicans’ trade package players from the Lakers perform against the young Celtics wings.
Further, Ingram and Brown were picked with the second and third selections, respectively, in the 2019 NBA Draft, plus were both named Player of the Week in their conference just a few days ago.
Boston's Jaylen Brown and New Orleans' Brandon Ingram were just named East and West Player of the Week by the NBA
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) December 30, 2019
While the New Orleans and New England fan bases are likely to be focused on football-related aspects of their cities’ athletic clubs, these two teams are certain to make for interesting competition in their first of two pairings this year.
In what could be one of Zion’s first games as a member of the Pelicans, the team will be tested by their matchup against one of the more effective two-way teams in the league.
LA Clippers @ New Orleans Pelicans – Saturday, January 18 @ 2:30 p.m. CT
One week after they play the Celtics, the Pelicans head back home to face a front runner from their own conference, but it’s a team with even more star power. Currently standing 25-11, tied for second place in the West, and just three games out of first place, the LA Clippers are one of the true juggernauts in the league.
While the Pelicans took down the Clippers last time they came to the Smoothie King Center by a 132-127 score, it was Paul George‘s first game with that team and Kawhi Leonard was out for the night to manage his load.
Last time the two squared off, however, New Orleans took a beat-down in Los Angeles, as Montrezl Harrell posted 34 points and 12 rebounds in just 28 minutes. The Pelicans took a 109-134 loss
Continuing their defensive resurgence with the return of Derrick Favors, who played in the first but missed the second of the two battles, the New Orleans Pelicans rank eighth in the league with a 105.5 defensive rating since his return to action. Favors has a 129 offensive and 102 defensive rating, so his presence will certainly be crucial to helping the Pelicans compete in this battle.
New Orleans Pelicans @ Memphis Grizzlies – Monday, January 20 @ 4 p.m. CT
Hitting the road to face the Memphis Grizzlies for the first time this season, the New Orleans Pelicans will get a chance to play in a game that is simply bigger than a match between two bottom-to-middle-of-the-road Western Conference foes.
The Pelicans have the unique opportunity to play on Martin Luther King Jr. day in a city that houses the National Civil Rights Museum. It’ll be a very powerful, special game that’ll hopefully allow these players to celebrate the cultural progression of our nation on one of the most beautiful holidays of the year.
While it’ll be exciting to watch the point guard match-up between Lonzo Ball and quick-twitch rookie Ja Morant (who went second in the 2019 NBA Draft), sometimes the game is bigger than the final score.
Currently, the Grizzlies are 13-22 and stand 1.5 games ahead of New Orleans in the conference, though it seems likely that the Pelicans’ defensive resurgence and returning of Zion could certainly push them far passed the Memphis, who is completely stripped of seasoned starpower.
San Antonio Spurs @ New Orleans Pelicans – Wednesday, January 22 @ 7 p.m. CT
Hosting the San Antonio Spurs for the first time during the 2019-2020 NBA season, the Pelicans will get a chance to go to battle with a team that’s also currently warring for the eighth seed in the West.
Considering the Spurs currently hold that spot in the conference, New Orleans is likely to come out firing in order to get a leg up on the current playoff squad.
What makes this game so crucial for New Orleans is the potential impact of Zion Williamson, who seems almost certain to make his first trip back to the hardwood on or before this date. The rookie played his fourth and final preseason game in San Antonio, potentially injuring his knee when he posted 22 points with 10 rebounds in 31 minutes.
Typically, we’d expect a Gregg Popovich team to be better than their 14-19 record at this point in the season, but this Spurs team isn’t like the Tim Duncan-led units of the 2000’s who reeled off a bunch of title runs.
This match against San Antonio could be a huge win and a great measuring stick for the New Orleans Pelicans against other teams contending for the final playoff spot, especially if Zion Williamson is in the picture.