There is no way to sugarcoat it: Last night’s loss to the Phoenix Suns was a painful one for the New Orleans Pelicans.
It was their third loss in a row and the Pels (who were fresh off a seven-game win streak) are facing their first real challenge of the season.
Not only did they blow a 24-point lead and let Devin Booker drop nearly 60 points on them, but they missed out on a chance to win the season series against the Suns, who they figure to be battling in the standings all season.
Some fans are overreacting to the loss (as bad as it was) and calling out everything from the refs, to Willie Green’s coaching to Jonas Valanciunas’ role with the team. But fans forget this is a LONG season and teams are going to go through these kinds of challenges at some point.
The New Orleans Pelicans can’t dwell on this long, nor worry too much about the Phoenix Suns, as they have tough games coming up and need to bounce back. It’s time to see if this team has a short memory.
The New Orleans Pelicans: A chemistry building loss
Sometimes losses like this can break a team, especially if that team already had cracks in its chemistry, so it will be interesting to see how the Pelicans respond.
New Orleans doesn’t get much time to recover, as they will take on the Bucks tomorrow in a contest against one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference.
This will be a great test for the young Pelicans, as they haven’t really had any strife this season, and will need to show resilience against a very-good Bucks team while still missing Brandon Ingram, who will be out for a few more games at least.
Losses like this can also make a team, as it will force them to look inward, realize that they can’t coast against anyone in the NBA, and sharpen their focus, chemistry and energy for the next one.
Great teams bounce back from bad losses, and if the New Orleans Pelicans want to be a great team, they will show that resilience tomorrow night and put up a wall to wall performance against Milwaukee.
This is the first rough patch of the season for the Pelicans and how they respond is going to tell us a lot about this team.