New Orleans Pelicans: 3 questions entering the game vs. the Nuggets
Zion Williamson and the New Orleans Pelicans will travel to Denver tonight to take on MVP candidate Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets.
The Pelicans are 3.5 games behind the Warriors for the 10th spot and a chance at the play-in tournament with 11 games left in the season, so the odds are stacked against them even though they still have three games left against Golden State.
The mere possibility of the play-in tournament has given these games some meaning that they wouldn’t normally have, so at the very least the New Orleans Pelicans are getting some high-pressure reps for their young players.
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Denver has been very good this season, especially against the Western Conference, so the Pels will have their work cut out for them, even though they have played much better against the elite competition in the NBA this season.
The Pelicans’ tendency to play up or down to their competition has been frustrating at times the season, but that’s something that comes with a team being led by a 20-year-old who is still learning the game.
Can the Pels compete down the stretch? This is just one of the questions I have entering the game vs. the Denver Nuggets.
New Orleans Pelicans: Can the Pelicans finish strong?
The Pelicans’ lottery odds are looking a lot better than their playoff odds, but that doesn’t mean they should just give up.
I would love to see the Pels finish this season strong so that they can carry some positivity into the offseason.
There are also important roster decisions to be made, especially around guys like Naji Marshall, who many believe has done enough to earn a spot on next year’s team.
Even if the Pelicans don’t make the playoffs, these games are important as the Pels are still trying to figure out this enigma of a team and how it all fits (or doesn’t) together.
The teams the Pels are chasing have difficult schedules too, so it’s not an impossibility that they could still make a run, but either way they need to finish strong to take something positive from this disappointing season.