New Orleans Pelicans: Losers in West keeping the Pels alive

There have been about ten times this season when I said, “Ok, that’s that for the old New Orleans Pelicans.”

This happened again after the Pelicans lost two in a row to the Orlando Magic and Atlanta Hawks, two teams that were nearly as beat up as the Pels.

Right as it seemed like the Pelicans were on the cusp of making a run, just about the entire starting lineup went down with injury and the one guy who was left, Eric Bledsoe, is the guy fans have been trying to chase out of town.

Surely this was finally the end of the Pelicans’ season and time to focus on the future and the draft, right? Not just yet.

New Orleans Pelicans: The Pels playoff hopes are still alive

The Pelicans’ have miraculously held onto their chances at the play-in game even though they have lost two in a row and five of their last ten overall.

That’s because everyone else around them is losing as well, almost as if they are all trying to avoid the play-in game and hit the offseason early.

The 8th place Spurs have lost two in a row and have only won three games out of the last ten. Same for the Warriors.

The Kings have lost four in a row after going on a winning streak and the Thunder, Rockets and Timberwolves have continued their tank jobs.

So even though the Pels have stunk lately, they are still just 1.5 games out of the play-in tournament, which is crazy considering they are six games under .500 on the season.

This is why the Pelicans are still being given a 25 percent chance of making the playoffs by FiveThirtyEight even though they are a losing team in 12th place in their conference.

The way this season has gone, it will probably come down to the last game, and if the Pels can get Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball back, I wouldn’t count them out, regardless of where they currently are in the standings.

Does anyone at the bottom of the West actually want to make the playoffs? We will find out.