According to Jrue Holiday, the young New Orleans Pelicans were focused on their goal of catching Memphis and making the playoffs.
On a recent episode of the Pelicans Podcast, guard Jrue Holiday talked about everything from family life during the lockdown to the New Orleans Pelicans’ chances of making the playoffs.
Holiday explained his family’s routine during the lockdown, which includes education with his daughter, watching plenty of movies and getting creative with arts and crafts.
He also talked about the things he’s doing to stay in shape. Few players in the NBA are married to a world-class athlete, so Holiday has the advantage of being able to work out with his wife Lauren Holiday, who is a two-time Olympic Gold Medalist and FIFA World Cup Champion.
Holiday, who says he doesn’t like running, gives Lauren credit for helping to keep him motivated. She is no stranger to adversity, having already gone through brain surgery a month after having their couple’s first child.
Holiday knows there are more important things than basketball.
It’s hard to complain when your wife is a bad a** that has been through more than most people can imagine.
He then talked about the New Orleans Pelicans and the frustration of being so close and not getting to finish the job.
Holiday said,
"“…we were locked in and I feel like that was the most important part. One through 15, we were locked in and we knew the goal and what the goal was, and we felt like we had a great chance to meet that. For that to kind of be disrupted and potentially possibly not even get a chance to complete, really sucks. We put in a lot of work.”"
The New Orleans Pelicans were playing their best ball of the season and Holiday was leading the way, averaging 21 points per game in the 10 games leading up to the hiatus.
The Pelicans were just 3.5 games behind Memphis and still had two head-to-head matchups remaining with the Grizzlies.
FiveThirtyEight gave the New Orleans Pelicans a 60 percent chance of making the playoffs and any true hoops fan feels robbed of that potential series with the Lakers.
Holiday expressed his own frustration at potentially being denied that matchup:
"“Again, it kind of just sucks that you feel like you kind of get short-changed. I feel like I’m playing the best I can, and our team is playing the best we can, and we wanted to end up going to L.A. in April and hopefully making that eighth seed and playing against the Lakers. Obviously for me personally that would have been a very – and even as an organization – that would have been a very very cool, challenging thing to do.”"
With a season cancellation looming, it’s very possible we’ll never know if the Pelicans would have caught the Grizzlies or if they could have made the first round tough for the Lakers.
Holiday is just one of many Pelicans doing podcasts, as teammate Lonzo Ball recently joined the J.J. Redick podcast and did an interview with Pelicans.com where he broke down his all-time NBA starting five.
The New Orleans Pelicans are doing their best to keep us entertained during this lockdown and we thank them for their efforts, though we can’t wait to see them doing their thing again on the court.
We at Pelican Debrief are also committed to helping you make it through this lockdown with coverage of the New Orleans Pelicans.
We hope you are enjoying it and appreciate you as readers. Stay safe out there!