Pelicans clinch play-in spot with win over Kings: 3 takeaways

It’s official! The New Orleans Pelicans have clinched a spot in the NBA play-in tournament with last night’s win over the Kings.

The Spurs also won, and the Lakers lost, which means there are a lot of angry Lakers’ fans in my mentions today talking about their bubble chip and Lonzo Ball. Just let me pause for a minute:

HHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Don’t worry LA, with all of those draft picks, copious amounts of cap space and plenty of trade assets, I am sure the Lakers will be right back at the top soon! (Just kidding, they have nothing).

If this seems petty, oh well, as I’ve been listening to Lakers’ fans talk greasy about the Pelicans and city of New Orleans for years and it’s time for them to take their medicine. By the way, Russell Westbrook makes just $47 million next season. Oh, and this (don’t watch if you are a Lakers’ fan.)

Anyway, back to the Pelicans win over the Kings, which clinched their play-in spot, eliminated the Lakers and all but guaranteed that New Orleans will get LA’s top-10 lottery pick.

New Orleans Pelicans: The 3-point barrage

The Pels aren’t a good 3-point shooting team and haven’t been all season. They are just 27th in 3-point percentage in the NBA, 29th in 3-point makes per game and 25th in attempts.

But someone forgot to tell them last night, as the Pels were a scorching 12-25 from behind the arc for 48 percent as a team.

They came out firing in the second half and just about everyone got involved, as Devonte’ Graham went 3-of-6 from the bench, Trey Murphy III hit all four of his attempts and even Jaxson Hayes (more on him in a minute) hit two of three.

The Pelicans don’t have a ton of 3-point shooting in their starting five outside of CJ McCollum (who was 1-of-5 last night) so to get production from their bench and Hayes is huge, especially in the play-in/playoffs when buckets are harder to come by in the half court.