The New Orleans Pelicans have developed an identity of being consistently inconsistent in the first two months of the 2017-18 season. While there have been some bright spots for the Pelicans, the month of December has been the very definition of middling.
However, they seem to be turning it around after a pair of wins last weekend over the Orlando Magic and the Miami Heat. While that seems like wishful thinking, there’s some method to the madness, especially when you look at their next ten games.
At the time of this writing, half of their next ten games are against teams that are at or below .500 with two more hovering around that mark. While that doesn’t mean much at first glance, look at who they have the next three games: Brooklyn, Dallas, and the Knicks. If you’re a numbers geek, the Pelicans are a combined 4-1 on the season against these three teams. With all three of these games being inside the Smoothie King Center, you have to give them a slight edge heading into each of these matchups.
One of the keys heading into this crucial stretch has to be the health of the starting lineup. The bench for the Pelicans is less than ideal to say the very least, especially if you zero in on the last two games. It also doesn’t help that they are reliant on DeMarcus Cousins, Anthony Davis, and Jrue Holiday to get things done offensively with all three averaging over 20 points per game this month. If any of these three have a bad game, it’s almost impossible to get a win against even the worst teams. It’s going to be an uphill climb for the Pelicans if they are without any of these players.
The next ten games are going to tell you a lot about what kind of team they will be going forward because if they wind up going 5-5 or worse, it’s very unlikely that you see them in the playoffs because it proves that they can’t quite get over the hump. However, if they can go 7-3 or better in this stretch it’s very possible that they turn this into some serious momentum heading into a big matchup in Boston against the Celtics on January 16th. If they can do that, there’s a solid chance that you could see Alvin Gentry keep his job beyond this season.
-Clint Domingue