New Orleans Pelicans: 5 games the team can’t lose in midst of playoff race

After falling at home to a weak opponent on Tuesday, the New Orleans Pelicans have to start showing signs of urgency against non-elite teams.

Tuesday night was supposed to be a walk in the park for the New Orleans Pelicans, who were faced with the task of keeping the Minnesota Timberwolves at arm’s length. Without Karl-Anthony Towns healthy, it projected as an easy, get-right win.

Instead, the team dropped the game by a final score of 139-134, pushing their record to 26-35 on the season and have now lost three of their last five games, all by less than ten points.

Though the previous losses came to the Los Angeles Lakers, it’s continuing to hamper this team’s ability to gain traction in the Western Conference playoff race.

With their loss to Minnesota on Tuesday, coupled with wins from the Sacramento Kings and San Antonio Spurs, the Pelicans fell from ninth in the conference down to twelfth, though they’re still just 4 games behind the Memphis Grizzlies.

Hopefully, for the Pelicans, the loss will allow them to refocus their energy to ensure lapses like this won’t be repeated in favorable games still to come this season.

After all, having the easiest remaining strength of schedule in the league doesn’t mean a thing if your team can’t win the easy games.

While they’ll face a formidable opponent on Wednesday on the road against the Dallas Mavericks, the team has a lot of soft opponents left, with only two games remaining against squads in the top-four seeds of their conference.

The New Orleans Pelicans have plenty of winnable games on the schedule, but with a 12-19 home record, there’s a lot of hesitation about how easy the team can make the stretch for themselves.

Sunday, March 8, 2020, New Orleans Pelicans @ Minnesota Timberwolves

Getting a rematch on Sunday after taking that terrible home loss on Tuesday, the Pelicans will catch a flight to chilly Minnesota, where their efforts will be vital to keep their season afloat.

Simply put, the New Orleans Pelicans cannot afford two losses in the span of a week to the lowly Timberwolves, a team that ranks 25th in the league with a -3.9 net rating.

Add in the fact that Minnesota will once again be without the services of Karl Towns, who seems increasingly likely to miss the remainder of the regular season with a left wrist injury.

Their loss against the Wolves wasn’t due to their inability to score the rock. Brandon Ingram, Zion Williamson, Jrue Holiday, and Lonzo Ball all finished with 24 points or more and the team shot 52% from the floor.

However, the Pelicans hit just 16-of-27 free throws while allowing the Timberwolves to hit 55.7% of their shots from the floor and 41.2% from three-point range.

This isn’t a new factor for this team, but it seems the key will be to tighten up on defense against a Minnesota offensive attack that caused them grief.

Saturday, March 22, 2020, Sacramento Kings @ New Orleans Pelicans

Making noise in the Western Conference playoff race after starting the season in choppy waters, the Sacramento Kings have vaulted into the ninth seed, boasting a 27-34 record and going 7-3 in their last ten outings.

The last time these two opponents faced off in Sacramento on Jan. 4, the Pelicans stole a narrow, 117-115 victory thanks to a late, running layup from J.J. Redick, who finished with 18 points, 3 assists, and 2 rebounds in the win.

Currently without the services of Redick, but now with the services of Zion, the Pelicans should have an even better chance to beat the Kings on their home floor later this month.

The teams to play one more time before this meeting in Sacramento on Mar. 11, but either way, their final outing is the one that will determine the fate of the season series.

Needing to keep differentiating themselves against opponents with similar records due to tie-breaker rules, sweeping the season series would be gigantic for the New Orleans Pelicans.

Friday, March 27, 2020, New York Knicks @ New Orleans Pelicans

Anytime a team plays the New York Knicks this season, they’re hoping for a win, as the team is currently 19-42 and stumbling their way through the 2019-2020 season.

However, as the Houston Rockets learned after taking a loss to the Knicks on Monday night, wins are never a given in the NBA.

This game will be exciting for fans of the Duke Blue Devils, who will get to see former teammates in Zion Williamson and R.J. Barrett share the floor as competitors for the first time in regular-season action.

Last time these two teams played, a Jan. 10 tilt at Madison Square Garden, the Knicks initially made it a close battle, but a 28-point outing from Brandon Ingram gave New Orleans enough star power to keep the game out of reach in the second half.

Playing on their home floor and needing every win they can get to make a run into the playoffs, there’s no reason for the Pelicans to let up against the Knicks at the end of this month.

Tuesday, April 7, 2020, Charlotte Hornets @ New Orleans Pelicans

Another team in a nosedive this season after losing Kemba Walker in free agency, the Charlotte Hornets are falling out of their own playoff race in the East.

Currently 21-40 and 6.5 games out of the playoffs, it seems almost impossible for the Hornets to keep their season alive with only 21 games left in their campaign.

Picking up their second win of the season on Nov. 9 against the Hornets, it will have been almost half a year since these teams have last squared off, that game in Charlotte.

In that outing, the Pelicans shot 42.4% from three and 53.3% from the field, while Ingram scored a torching 25 points and shot 8-of-12 from the field.

Hopefully, the North Carolina native in Ingram can keep his proficiency going against his home state Hornets.

Monday, April 13,  2020, Washington Wizards @ New Orleans Pelicans

Playing twice in the New Orleans Pelicans’ final seven games of the 2019-2020 season, the Washington Wizards are a team that has been feisty in their own right.

Currently standing 22-38 and ninth in the Eastern Conference, the Wizards are 4.5 games behind the Orlando Magic for the eighth seed.

However, by the time the team plays in New Orleans in the second-to-last game of the season for both teams, there’s a good chance the Wizards’ playoff hopes will have fallen by the wayside.

There are some really tough shooters on the Washington roster, as their superstar in Bradley Beal has given teams a lot to handle even in losses this season.

Further, Dāvis Bertāns is shooting 42.6% from three-point range this season and averaging 15.2 points, looking like a fearless forward.

Washington does have a pretty paper-thin defense on the other hand, which should be great news for scorers like Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram, who seem highly capable of dismantling the unit as they’ve proven against other soft-coverage clubs.

Ranking dead-last in the league with a 115.2 defensive rating, it’ll be key for the Pelicans to run up the score, as Washington can get hot and shoot an opponent out of a game.

This is one of the final two games of the season for the New Orleans Pelicans, who could very likely need a win in this game to solidify their final run at the eighth seed in the playoffs; they just can’t afford to let that one slip away like they did on Tuesday against Minnesota.