Slow start in January is not the end for the Pelicans

After last night’s loss to the Utah Jazz, I already started seeing the “New Orleans Pelicans should tank” posts on social media.

I knew this was going to happen, as the Pels played well in December and changed the narrative of their season, which most dismissed as “lost” after Zion Williamson went down with injury and Brandon Ingram joined him a few times.

It was easy to predict if you look at the Pelicans’ schedule, as January kicks off with games against the three best teams in the Western Conference, including a back-to-back.

But as we’ve seen all season, you can never count these Pelicans out, as Willie Green has them fighting and Ingram and Jonas Valanciunas have rejoined the team after missing games with injury and illness.

The Pelicans have the 8th most-difficult remaining schedule in the NBA, but if they can just hang around in January, they still have a fighting chance at the play-in tournament.

The Pelicans schedule will get better in February

February might seem like a long way off, and in a sense it is. The Pels have some tough upcoming games and if they don’t win a few of them, they could very well be buried by the time the first month of the year is over.

But they do have some things working in their favor.

The teams around and ahead of the Pelicans all stink, and there is little chance that is going to change.  The Pelicans are the only team in the Western Conference from the 6th seed down that has a winning record over the last 10 games.

The Western Conference only has six teams with winning records, and the Pelicans are as good as anyone in the bottom seven. All they have to do is win a few and they will still be right there.

While they do have some tough games in February as well, the month also sees them play the Pistons, the Rockets (twice), Spurs, Raptors and Kings, so they can make up some ground by beating the bad teams.

I am done counting this Pelicans team out because every time it seems bleak, they find a way to hold onto hope. With the team working towards getting back to full strength and the slight chance of Zion returning hovering, there is still hope in New Orleans.