Based on most analytical measurements, the New Orleans Pelicans have less than a 10 percent chance of reaching the Western Conference playoffs, but that was also the case a year ago, when they successfully overcame a four-game deficit to Oklahoma City with just 11 remaining. It’s not exactly the same scenario this time – the Pelicans (23-34) are currently in 11th place, meaning there is more than just one team to leapfrog – but they’re not yet giving up on the race. It helps that New Orleans seems to be playing some of its best basketball in recent weeks, with a few frustrating exceptions.
“I think we can do it,” surging three-time All-Star forward Anthony Davis said Thursday, after ringing up 30 points in a 123-119 victory over Oklahoma City. “We’ve got enough talent in here where we can (make the playoffs); Eric (Gordon) is coming back (soon from a broken finger). Guys are playing at a high level right now, except for a couple games. Overall, we’re getting better. Of course, a couple other teams have to lose, but we’ve got to just keep doing what we’re doing.”
What the Pelicans have been doing recently is going 12-8 over their last 20 games, led by the outstanding production of Davis, who is averaging a whopping 33.0 points since the All-Star break, even with a nine-point aberration at Washington thrown into the mix. In February, the 22-year-old is averaging 28.6 points and 9.9 rebounds, while shooting 53.7 percent from the field (he was 24/34 in his 59-point display at Detroit). He’s scored 30-plus points in three of the four games, with each of those resulting in a win.
“He just continues to develop, he just continues to get better,” said 76ers Coach Brett Brown, before Davis went for 34 points against Brown’s team Feb. 19. “He is a legitimate, franchise-type cornerstone to a program. You don’t anoint someone freely like I just did. It’s a select group and he’s amongst it. I just know that we respect what he can do to a basketball game and influence a game on both sides. He’s really, really good.”
“I think he’s playing great basketball,” Pelicans Coach Alvin Gentry said Thursday. “The unfortunate thing for him is that our team, we’re not winning enough games that people are talking about it, but he’s had a fantastic year.”
New Orleans dug itself an enormous hole by starting the regular season at 1-11 with a severely short-handed group, but has essentially been a .500 team since then at 22-23. The Pelicans also stumbled to the low point of the season with a Jan. 12 loss to the Lakers in Staples Center that dropped them to 11-26 overall, but are four games over .500 since then. During the 12-8 stretch, other than losses to the Lakers and Wizards, they’ve mostly been defeated by quality opponents, including road Ls in Memphis, San Antonio, Cleveland and Oklahoma City, four of the NBA’s top seven teams.
Davis’ recent excellence has made his primary 2015-16 statistics look eerily similar to his first-team All-NBA numbers of last season, with his scoring average now 24.1 (it was 24.4 in ’14-15) and rebounding average exactly the same at 10.2. Davis and the Pelicans have also benefited recently from the three-time All-Star receiving more help than he did early in the campaign. For example, three other Pelicans registered 20-plus points in the win over Oklahoma City, including reserves Ryan Anderson (26) and Jrue Holiday (22), along with starting point guard Norris Cole (21). Anderson has scored exactly 26 points three times this month in beating Minnesota, Philadelphia and OKC, while Holiday is averaging 19.3 points and 7.5 assists in February (in 30.4 minutes).
Holiday and Anderson helped New Orleans outscore OKC by a whopping 60-20 in bench points Thursday, despite the Thunder recently adding some depth and firepower, trading for guard Randy Foye.
“They’re a great team… It feels great,” Anderson said of beating OKC. “Any win at this point we’re going to be happy about, and we’re going to move on to the next game and try to do the same thing. You can’t really look in the past anymore – we’ve had our reasons and excuses – but you can’t really look in the past. You have to look ahead. Right now we’re 3-1 since the break and that’s great for us. We’ve got to keep that momentum and continue to play the way we’ve been playing.”
