It’s hard to know what to make of the New Orleans Pelicans this season.
The team transforms from quarter to quarter, sometimes looking like title contenders and others like the worst team in the NBA.
The Pelicans kicked off the second half with one of the more embarrassing losses in franchise history, getting dusted by the NBA-worst Timberwolves at home.
Fans were rightfully upset and the Twitter mobs were calling for heads, specifically those of David Griffin and Stan Van Gundy.
The latter deserves some amount of patience, as he didn’t build this team and doesn’t have the players to accomplish what he is trying to do, especially on defense.
It has become clear that some of these guys might be uncoachable, as SVG has had top-ten defenses just about everywhere he’s been but has watched his team get even worse on that end.
David Griffin is the one who built this roster full of undersized players who don’t play hard or know their role, so if anyone should be on the hot seat, it is him.
This past week has been symbolic of the entire season, as the Pelicans showed their inconsistency by getting whooped by the Timberwolves only to bounce back with two blowout wins over the Cavaliers and Clippers.
It’s been that kind of year for the Pels and this week put it all on display.
New Orleans Pelicans: The defense is still awful
One thing that has been consistent this season is the Pelicans’ god-awful defense, which is still ranked just 28th in the NBA even after allowing only 82 points to the hopeless Cavs.
Take that game out, and the Pelicans would be dead last in the NBA, even worse than last season.
Even in a week where they won two of three games, the Pelicans defense was terrible, allowing 135 points to the league-worst Timberwolves and 115 to the Clippers.
Until this changes, the Pelicans will continue to be inconsistent even though their offense is dominating. All of the top teams in the standings are also highly ranked in defense, while three of the top-ten offenses are out of the playoff picture.
In other words, you win with consistent defense and effort, not a great offense, just ask the Wizards and Kings, who are both top-ten offensively but near the bottom in defense, which is why they are headed for the lottery.
New Orleans Pelicans: The shooting has been inconsistent
Another hallmark of this season of ups and downs has been the inconsistent shooting.
The Pelicans shot a scorching 65 percent against the Clippers overall, including 46 percent from 3-point range. When the Pels shots are going in, they look almost impossible to beat.
When they aren’t? Well, just ask the Timberwolves, who have gotten nearly 25 percent of their total wins against the Pelicans this season.
The Pels shot just 43 percent overall in the blowout loss to the Timberwolves including just 18 percent from 3-point range.
This is the Trick-or-Treat Pelicans in a nutshell: they are either blowing teams out or getting blown out.
The defense and effort are obvious factors but so is the shooting, as I’ve never seen a streakier team than this version of the New Orleans Pelicans, who go from Peak-Warriors to a bad team from the 1990’s from one quarter to the next.
After scoring 34 points in the first quarter against the Timberwolves, the Pels backed it up with 26,22 and 23 points in the next three.
We’ve seen the best and worst of the Pels’ inconsistent shooting this week and it’s been like this all season.
New Orleans Pelicans: Zion Williamson continues to dominate
One thing that has been consistent this season is the dominance of Zion Williamson, and that didn’t change this week.
What has changed from game to game is the performance of his running mates, specifically Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball, who look like All-Stars one night but disappear the next.
Ingram and Ball combined for 23 points against the lowly Timberwolves but then scored a combined 43 against the Clippers, one of the best defensive teams in the league.
I am really not that worried about Ingram and Lonzo overall, as they have both shown they can be complementary stars next to Zion Williamson, but it would be nice if they could be counted on to contribute more consistently from game to game.
Zion Williamson is pretty much money for 25 points a night but you never know what you will get out of the other two, which needs to change as they add better role players who fit their skill sets.
The Pelicans need to be able to count on all three for consistent points, as they really don’t have anyone else right now who can carry the team if they have off nights.
The New Orleans Pelicans are a talented but flawed team who showed us the best and worst of what they can be in the past week.
They have now won two-in-a-row in dominant fashion which means you should be the house that they will get blown out when they take on the Trail Blazers on Tuesday.