For the second game in row, the New Orleans Pelicans lost a game in which they were leading by double-digits.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.
Blown leads have been the calling card for the Pelicans for the last two seasons, as they dropped 15 games last season in which they were ahead by double-digits.
They have all of the excuses in the world this season, as Zion Williamson is out and Brandon Ingram has missed a big chunk of the games.
The Pelicans have a new head coach (their third in three years), a bunch of new faces on the roster, and are even younger than they were last season.
Yep, they have all of the excuses. But Josh Hart isn’t hearing any of them.
New Orleans Pelicans: Josh Hart doesn’t care about the excuses
I recently wrote about how the Pelicans were playing with heart even though they were losing and that would eventually pay off.
Josh Hart doesn’t care about moral victories.
He has grown frustrated with the Pelicans’ play of late (join the club) and is getting even more frustrated with the excuses.
Here is what he had to say after last night’s loss to the Heat (WARNING, there is some colorful language):
"“I really don’t care about the youth of the team. We’ve got to grow up. F&%$ being young, the inexperience. I don’t really care for that right now. We’ve got to focus on growing up. We’ve got to focus on getting better, having better attention to detail. We’ve all been playing basketball for over half our lives. We know how to play basketball. We’ve got to go out there, execute, have attention to detail, have discipline…I don’t really care for young or potential. We’ve got to focus on right now. Right now, we’re 2-14. We’re at the bottom of the league. At some point, something has to click in terms of playing desperate, playing scrappy. We’ve got to throw the excuse of being young, and youth, we’ve got to throw that s*&% away.”"
This sounds like a guy who is either trying to be a team leader or trying to get traded, but Hart is correct in his assessment.
Other teams aren’t going to feel sorry for the New Orleans Pelicans because their best player is out, nor that they are a young team, so they have to keep battling and quit looking for excuses.
Hart is off to a good start this season, averaging a career-high in points and shooting over 40 percent from 3-point range. But he is also angry, and who can blame him after this start?
Let’s hope this lights a fire under the Pelicans and they can get something going before Zion Williamson returns, as there won’t be a season to salvage if something doesn’t change.