The New Orleans Pelicans crushed the Clippers for their second win in a row and now find themselves just a half game out of the final play-in spot, all without Zion Williamson.
The Pels held the shorthanded Clippers to just 89 points in the blow out and got contributions from just about everyone.
What’s even more impressive is how they’ve been getting their wins, as unlike years past when their only chance was to overwhelm teams with offense, the Pelicans are winning behind defense and effort, a testament to first-year coach Willie Green, who has gotten his young team to buy into the culture he is creating.
Can we just have a moment of appreciation for coach Green? He managed to keep this team together during a slow start and has them competing every night even though they are missing their best player.
Coach Green said that he wanted to build a defensive identity in New Orleans and that is precisely what he is doing.
New Orleans Pelicans getting it done with defense
The New Orleans Pelicans grabbed some young players in the offseason that have been contributing on the defensive end. Herb Jones has been doing it all season and is playing like a guy who deserves a spot on the All-Defense team.
Recently, two-way guard Jose Alvarado has been giving the Pelicans some much-needed help on the bench with his energy and tenacious on-the-ball defense.
Same with Gary Clark, who has been very good defensively, supplanting first-round pick Trey Murphy III in the process. What I like about this is that is shows that Coach Green is willing to play the young guys if they are earning those minutes on the defensive end, which is how you create a consistent winner in the NBA.
The Pelicans are still just 23rd in defensive efficiency and 21st in points allowed, but those are actually marked improvements over last season, when they were near the bottom of the league in both categories.
If you look around the league, 105 points is pretty much the gold standard for defense and the New Orleans Pelicans have held opponents under that mark 16 times and have won 13 of those games. They’ve only won 3-of-26 in games where they haven’t held opponents under 105, so this is a team that is no longer relying on just a high-powered offense to win games.
With Brandon Ingram playing like an All-Star and taking the reins as the leader of this team, the Pels are starting to feel themselves, are building a true home court advantage and are trending in the right direction as the teams around them in the standings flounder.
This transformation has been fun to watch, and as these young guys continue to develop and gain confidence, the defense is going to keep getting better.