New Orleans Pelicans: 5 ripple effects of the DeMarcus Cousins injury
3. Clippers/Nuggets/Blazers have life
The Portland Trail Blazers have had a predictably up-and-down year that is barely starting to extend past “mediocre” and into “slightly above .500” territory. The Denver Nuggets have struggled without Paul Millsap, but will get him back in the coming weeks. The Los Angeles Clippers have been battered by injuries, but have Blake Griffin and Milos Teodosic back while Lou Williams continues putting up All-Star numbers.
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With DeMarcus Cousins going down, all three of those teams feel like a safer bet to make the playoffs right now. Anthony Davis will do what he can, but unless he gets some major help from Jrue Holiday, Rajon Rondo, E’Twaun Moore, Darius Miller, Ian Clark and the return of Solomon Hill, this team just doesn’t have the horses to keep up its current pace.
One injury to Davis and it all falls apart. Even with a completely healthy Brow, the return of Millsap, Portland finding its groove, the Clippers staying healthy and the unforeseen impact of the trade deadline could all conspire to rob New Orleans of its first playoff appearance since 2015.
And even if the Pellies do hold on to a bottom-rung playoff spot, Anthony Davis isn’t unseating a team like the Golden State Warriors or Houston Rockets by himself in the first round.
The Pelicans are currently one game out of the 5-seed in the West, trailing the Oklahoma City Thunder. They’re half a game ahead of the seventh-seeded Blazers, two games ahead of the eighth-seeded Nuggets and three games ahead of the ninth-place Clippers.
Point differential, which is usually a fair indicator of a team’s expected success, is not on the Pelicans’ side. Their +0.4 point differential with Boogie is worse than that of Portland (+1.5) and Denver (+0.6), and just barely ahead of the injury-plagued Clippers (+0.3).
To make a long story short, even if the Los Angeles Lakers and Utah Jazz don’t join the group of teams seriously competing for one of those last eight playoff spots, the Pelicans may wind up on the outside looking in among this nine-team race.