How the New Orleans Pelicans Stack Up Against the 8th Seed Hopefuls
By Tim Burke
The statistics say the New Orleans Pelicans have an advantage in Orlando
Let’s take a look at the stats for each of these teams:
| Overall | W-L | Pts | FG% | 3P% | FT% | ORed | DReb | TReb | Ast | Stl | Blk | TO | PF | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mem | 23-33 | 112.6 | 47.0 | 35.2 | 76.1 | 10.4 | 36.3 | 46.7 | 27.0 | 8.0 | 5.6 | 15.3 | 20.8 | -1.1 |
| Port | 29-37 | 113.6 | 46.1 | 37.2 | 79.8 | 10.1 | 35.4 | 45.5 | 20.2 | 6.1 | 6.2 | 13.0 | 21.4 | -1.6 |
| Nola | 28-36 | 116.2 | 46.2 | 37.2 | 72.9 | 11.2 | 35.8 | 47.3 | 27.0 | 7.6 | 5.1 | 16.2 | 21.0 | -0.8 |
| Sac | 28-36 | 109.0 | 45.9 | 36.4 | 76.9 | 9.6 | 32.9 | 42.5 | 23.4 | 7.5 | 4.2 | 14.4 | 21.9 | -1.9 |
| San | 27-36 | 113.2 | 47.0 | 37.1 | 80.9 | 8.8 | 35.6 | 44.4 | 24.5 | 7.2 | 5.5 | 12.3 | 19.2 | -1.8 |
| Pho | 26-39 | 112.6 | 46.4 | 35.3 | 82.6 | 9.8 | 33.3 | 43.1 | 27.2 | 7.8 | 4.0 | 15.1 | 22.1 | -1.4 |
After going over the table, Portland not surprisingly is the most dangerous threat to the New Orleans Pelicans not making at least the play-in games. It’s worth noting that by plus/minus the Pelicans are the best of this group, although the number is still negative.
With Zion Williamson missing the majority of the season that number isn’t a complete representation of how New Orleans has played with him in the lineup.
Now you may be thinking that I’m being unfair by letting the Pelicans slide when they have a negative plus/minus but not doing the same for Portland even though Portland didn’t have two starting caliber players for basically the whole season.
But because Zion played more time with New Orleans than Collins or Nurkic did with Portland, we have a better idea of the Pelicans’ level of play with Zion in the mix.
When New Orleans has played Lonzo Ball, Jrue Holiday, Brandon Ingram, Zion Williamson and Derrick Favors together that unit has a net point rating of +130 in only 17 games. The best lineup for Portland this year has a rating of +33. A hundred point difference is a lot to make up and counting on two players who barely played for Portland to get there is a big ask.
The New Orleans Pelicans have had the best starting five in the NBA since Zion returned, and if they can keep that up, they might be able to sneak up on Memphis.