NEW ORLEANS — The Pelicans reached the semifinals of the NBA's in-season tournament and for a quarter and a half it was a back and forth effort, but, the Pelicans were slammed from that point on and the national media noticed.
The Pels were slammed in some accounts and, actually, they were highly critical of themselves with Zion Williamson saying he has to be better and head coach Willie Green saying the team took a step backward.
Here are some of the other accounts, which largely focused on the Lakers and LeBron James' extraordinary performance, but they got their shots in at the Pelicans too.
Pelicans' flop brings questions about Zion as a franchise player - Jake Fischer / USA Today
Pelicans aren't ready for this type of moment - Jeff Zillgitt / USA Today
Lakers needed "more worthy opponent" - Vincent Goodwill / Yahoo! Sports
Pelicans didn't compete - Rod Walker / NOLA.com
Total letdown - Christian Clark / NOLA.com
Pelicans 'completely helpless' - Sam Quinn / CBSSports.com