The last few weeks have been an absolute rollercoaster for the New Orleans Pelicans. On March 28th, the Pelicans sat in the fifth seed in the Western Conference.
New Orleans was half a game behind the Los Angeles Clippers for the number four seed in the west, and they cleared the number six seed by a game and a half. They defeated the title contending Milwaukee Bucks handily, Zion Williamson was on fire, and the squad was heading into a tough strech of games with real momentum.
That turned out to be the high water mark for the Pelicans.
New Orleans proceeded to lose four straight home games to Boston, Phoenix, Orlando, and San Antonio, and plummeted into the seven seed and the Play-In Tournament where they sit currently.
New Orleans is slated to take on the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night. If they beat the Lakers, they'll move on to face the Denver Nuggets in the first round. If the Pelicans fall to the Lakers on Tuesday night, they'll take on the winner of the Sacramento Kings/Golden State Warriors game in a winner-take-all matchup for the right to play the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round.
Getting out of the Play-In Tournament is going to be a tall task, but history is on the Pelicans side. In the three year history of the Tournament, the team that enters the tournament as the number seven seed in either conference has never been bounced before the playoffs start.
In 2021 the seven seeded Lakers and Celtics made the playoffs, in 2022 the seven seeded Timberwolves and Nets made the playoffs, and in 2023 the seven seeded Lakers and Heat made the playoffs. Only once in those six instinces has the seven seed lost their first game.
The Pelicans have demons in the form of the Los Angels Lakers, but those can be exorcised in tonight's match-up, and in a city famous for VooDoo, New Orleans better show up.