NEW ORLEANS — The New Orleans Pelicans season continues to spiral downward. They returned from the All-Star break the same way they went into it on the losing side.
"It starts with me. I gotta go back, look myself in the mirror as a coach as a leader and raise the level of our team, and our players will do the same," head coach Willie Green said after their 22-point loss to the New York Knicks.
The Pelicans have dropped three games in a row and are now 10th in the Western Conference, which is the last spot Play-In tournament.
If the season ended today, they'd have to go on the road and win two Play-In games to clinch the 8th seed in the Western Conference.
"Keep working, keep working, keep our heads down, go back and see where we can make adjustments. The first order is business is we gotta play harder," head coach Willie Green said.
With just 21 games left in the regular season, the Pelicans have a lot of work to do. The team is currently 30-31 and has the second easiest schedule in the Western Conference in regard to cumulative opponent winning percentage, according to NBA.com.
Only four of their next 15 games are against teams currently over .500. They end the season with six straight games against teams currently over .500 teams.
The Pels play one of those games against a team under .500 on Monday night against the Orlando Magic in the Smoothie King Center.
Forward Larry Nance Jr. sprained his left ankle against the Knicks and will miss Monday night's game. With Nance out, Willy Hernangómez will most likely take his minutes.
The Pelicans acquired Josh Richardson from the San Antonio Spurs at the trade deadline. Richardson has taken Trey Murphy III's place in the starting lineup the last two games and had his best game in Knicks, scoring 16 points and nabbing 4 steals in 34 minutes.
Fans are still wondering when star forward Zion Williamson will be back on the court. It's unknown when Williamson will return from his hamstring injury, but the team does expect him to return at some point this season. The Pelicans have lost 17 of 24 games played in 2023 without Williamson in the lineup.
“Once (we know) he’s ready, it’s something that (Executive Vice-President of Basketball Operations David Griffin and) our performance team and medical (staff) and coaches sit down and talk about what’s the best plan,” Green told the Associated Press.
After the Magic game, the Pelicans will hit the road for arguably their most important west coast trip of the season. On Wednesday night, they play the Trail Blazers, who are just a 1/2 game back of the Pelicans in the standings, and on Friday night, they will play the Golden State Warriors, who are just one game ahead of the Pelicans in the standings.
If the Pels finish this week without a win, they could drop out of the Play-In with less than 20 games remaining.
"We know we have to be better, we know we can be better. Plenty of time left, but we don't wanna look back and leave anything for chance," Green said.
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