Playoff Picture: New Orleans Pelicans
By Luke Duffy
Why They’ll Fall Short
They’re the eighth seed for a reason, and some would argue wouldn’t even be here if Kevin Durant hadn’t missed so much of the season because of a foot injury. As mentioned, their bench isn’t giving them much, while defensively their the twenty-second best unit in the league. A team like the Warriors will absolutely have a field day against a defense that struggles like that.
This team is also all about Davis as well, so if a team can shut him down, New Orleans aren’t going anywhere fast. He doesn’t yet have the help around him to make this team a real threat, although he’ll be hoping that help is coming sooner rather than later.
A top-five defensive unit like Golden State will shut him down as best they can, and I would not be surprised to see a couple of triple teams thrown his way during that series as well.
A team that went 45-37 during the course of the year is obviously going to struggle in the wicked West. Their points differential of plus-0.8 is just above league average, but trails well behind the heavy hitters of the Western Conference. It is actually the worst mark of all playoff teams in the West.
When you combine that with their defensive struggles, it doesn’t bode well for their chances of winning here.
Just making the playoffs was their Mount Everest though, and this team achieved that. This works both ways, though. While the pressure is off the team to succeed and that’s great, they have also given their all to just get this far. Davis is going to go hard, but both he and the entire team had to give their all just to beat the San Antonio Spurs and make the playoffs.
The Warriors on the other hand locked up the top spot a couple of weeks back, and have rested players accordingly.
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