New Orleans Pelicans: Is a season turnaround happening before our eyes?

After beating the Milwaukee Bucks 131-126, is it fair to ask if the New Orleans Pelicans are turning their season around?

Just a few days ago, the season was feeling bleak for the New Orleans Pelicans. Their record was 5-10, and most fans were talking more about lottery odds than playoff seeding.

Now, the Pelicans have won back-to-back games, climbing to 7-10, and looking dangerous as they do it. Tonight, the Pelicans’ victim was the 11-6 Milwaukee Bucks, who entered the game as the second-best team in the Eastern Conference.

What the Pelicans did, was demolish their 10th ranked defense, and put a stop to their 1st ranked offense. It was a wire-to-wire performance as the Pelicans leaped out to a 68-45 lead at halftime before winning the game 131-126.

Of course, the reactionary response to this game has caused people to ask, are the Pelicans turning their season around before our very eyes? I wouldn’t go that far yet considering it’s only been two games, and one of them was against the horrid Washington Wizards, but this team is in better shape. Let’s break it down a little bit.

How the New Orleans Pelicans have improved over their last two games

What’s standing out about the New Orleans Pelicans’ performance over the past two games, is the fact that they seem to have straightened out some of their early-season issues.

For starters, this team is playing with much more pace in these last two games, bringing back the part of their identity that worked so well for them last season. The result is scoring outputs of 124 and 130, two of their highest scores on the season.

Then there are the 3 pointers. The Pelicans scorched the Bucks tonight, making a season-high 21 threes. That performance follows up the team hitting 17 threes on 40 percent shooting against the Wizards. I credit this to improvements from players like Lonzo Ball and Eric Bledsoe who struggled earlier this season.

But most importantly, their playmaking has drastically changed in these two outings. The Pelicans had 32 assists tonight after having 27 against the Wizards, and that’s because the team is playing like an actual unit now. Everyone makes plays on this team now, and Stan Van Gundy has learned to diversify who handles the ball. Along with that, the Pelicans have lowered their turnover numbers too.

These are signs that the team is heading in the right direction again, but there’s still work they need to do. The defense shows flashes of being good, but they still can’t play at a high level for 48 minutes. Third quarters are still hurting the Pelicans, and Stan Van Gundy still needs to settle on a definitive rotation.

I wouldn’t say the New Orleans Pelicans are back in it yet, but they’re close to being able to make a second-half run. If they can beat a tough Houston Rockets team tomorrow night, and make a few moves at this year’s deadline, we might not be talking about the draft lottery much after all!