New Orleans Pelicans: The Pels can play spoiler to Warriors and Lakers

The New Orleans Pelicans have been officially eliminated from the playoffs.

They also have most of their starting lineup on the bench with injuries, so there isn’t much to play for down the stretch unless you are a fan of young players and the deep bench.

While there are certainly some individual goals for the final two games, especially for guys like Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Naji Marshall, the Pels’ team goals should be simple: to play spoiler to their rivals.

The Pels will pay the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers in their final two games and could have a big impact on the final standings.

New Orleans Pelicans vs. Golden State Warriors

The Warriors are currently tied with the Memphis Grizzlies for the 8th seed in the Western Conference and it’s not clear if either one of them should want to claim it.

The NBA play-in tournament will put the 7th seed against the 8th seed to see who gets the 7th spot and the loser of that game will have to play the winner of the game between the 9th and 10th seed to see who gets the 8th and final spot.

Obviously the winner of the 7/8 game only has to play one game, which is an advantage, but right now that game would be against the Los Angeles Lakers.

If the Pelicans beat the Warriors, it could knock them down, which means they would have to win twice to make the playoffs, or they could stay in the 8th spot and potentially have to face the Lakers in the play-in game.

This one will likely come down to the last game the Pelicans might hurt or help the Warriors in some way regardless of the outcome of their matchup.

New Orleans Pelicans vs. Los Angeles Lakers

The Pels will play the hated Lakers in the final game of the season.

The Lakers are desperate to move up to the 6th spot and avoid the play-in tournament altogether but are currently a half game behind the Trail Blazers for that spot.

LeBron James and the Lakers’ fans have done plenty of whining about the play-in game, so it would be great if the Pelicans could beat them and ensure that they are in it.

I would love nothing more than for the Pelicans to be the reason that the Lakers and Warriors have to play each other in the play-in game, as one of them could get knocked out of the playoffs altogether with two losses in a row.

The New Orleans Pelicans are pretty much playing for spite at this point and it would be nice if they could be a spoiler to their rivals.