The New Orleans Pelicans have a Road Advantage at Disney

The NBA will finish its season on the road, which should give the New Orleans Pelicans an advantage over the competition.

When the New Orleans Pelicans take the floor in Orlando, they will have an advantage over the other fringe teams trying to battle their way into the playoffs.

The advantage is that every game will be on the road.

The New Orleans Pelicans were one of four teams in the NBA who had a better record on the road than at home, the others being the Charlotte Hornets, Dallas Mavericks and Phoenix Suns.

The Pelicans went 15-17 on the road and just 13-19 at home, so they’ll be happy to play anywhere but New Orleans.

Part of this is just scheduling, as the Pelicans had many of their toughest home games at the beginning of the season, when the NBA tried to cash on on the Zion hype by having New Orleans play mostly good teams on national television.

There is also the unpredictability of youth and the Pelicans are a young team. There can be added pressure playing in front of a home crowd, especially for an ascending team that is still trying to win over the fans.

Either way, the New Orleans Pelicans were better on the road, which could prove to be an advantage at NBA Disney.

The Memphis Grizzlies (14-18), the Portland Trail Blazers (11-23), Sacramento Kings (14-19), San Antonio Spurs (11-22)  and Phoenix Suns (13-17) were all abysmal on the road.

The Pelicans just have to keep pace with the Grizzlies, but they need to overtake the Portland Trail Blazers by at least one game, as Portland owns the tiebreaker. They also need to stay ahead of the Kings and Spurs to claim the 9th spot and force a play-in series with Memphis.

The Trail Blazers are just 11-23 away from Portland, which should give the Pelicans an advantage, especially considering Portland will be crossing the country and several time zones.

Unlike most teams, the Pelicans’ home/road splits are almost identical, and the Pels actually shoot a slightly better percentage from 3-point range on the road.

Brandon Ingram has been particularly good on the road, scoring nearly identically as he does in the comforts of New Orleans.

Hopefully, New Orleans can keep up their strong road play since all eight of their remaining games will be away from home. If Memphis, Portland, Sacramento and San Antonio continue to struggle, the Pels could leapfrog them all into the playoffs.