After The Pelicans 1-12 Start To The Season Their Playoff Dreams Are Still Alive After Taking Down The Spurs

Sean Gardner. Getty Images.

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When the Pelicans started the season 1-12 I'm sure their fans thought they were in for a long year. A new coach, Zion nowhere to be seen despite the team saying he would be back any minute (nailed it!) and playing in a pretty tough conference. You can't win anything in the early part of the NBA season, but you certainly can dig yourself a pretty deep hole that basically ends your season before it even gets started. How many 1-12 teams do you see still alive in mid April? My guess is almost none. But the Pelicans stayed the course, guys got healthy, they made some deadline moves and now look. They protected homecourt in their play in game and the dream of getting swept by the Suns is still alive. While you might think that's meaningless, I would respectfully disagree. When you are a young rebuilding team, all of these reps matter. Even if they lose to the Clippers and end up missing the playoffs, the reps are only going to help moving forward.  

There's real reason to be excited as a Pels fan and this is without even talking about Zion because who the hell knows what is going on with that dude. He's too hurt to play but every time you log onto the internet we see videos of him doing crazy dunks. That makes sense. Outside of Zion though, there are real pieces on this Pelicans team. How about CJ McCollum? He embraced the trade to NO with open arms and has thrived in a way that has translated to the best basketball of his career. Tonight he was a monster with 32/4/6 on 12-23 (3-5) shooting and that's not a fluke. 

Since becoming a Pelican all CJ has done is average 24.3/4.5/5.8 on 49/39% splits with 2.7 3PM a night. The fit has been better than I imagine even Pelican fans thought. Brandon Ingram continues to develop and as long as he puts in effort defensively he fits the profile of someone who could be an effective #1. He had an efficient 25 with some huge makes down the stretch. Rookie Herb Jones is going to make an All NBA Defensive team which is pretty fucking ridiculous. 

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They have legit big man depth with JV and Jaxon Hayes and then bring guys like Larry Nance Jr, Devonte Graham, Jose Alvarado, and Tre Murphy off the bench. That's a legit roster! If you add Zion to it as well as a potential lottery pick (if they don't beat LAC) and you're really starting to put something together. 

Of course, beating a 34-48 Spurs team is mostly whatever. That's not really the point. The point is the continued development and forward progress of the Pelicans. With such a young roster, any time you can expose them to a "playoff" atmosphere it can only help. Then next year with hopefully Zion back, they are in the top 6 and it's for real the players won't be overwhelmed by the moment. Plus, much like the Wolves and their fans, Pelicans fans deserve this shit. Their entire existence all they have to hear about is how all their best players should leave their small market and go somewhere else. Fuck that. This franchise has never been out of the 2nd round in their entire existence and has only 1 playoff appearance since 2015. Let them enjoy winning the 9/10 game and keeping their postseason dream alive. This roster can pull off the upset over the Clippers if they play the way they've been playing these last few months. 

Since the trade deadline, the Pelicans have the 9th best offense in basketball. Defensively, they're 13th while owning the 10th best net rating. This is all over a 28 game sample so it certainly looks like they are trending in the right direction and that's why Pelicans fans should be excited. They are not a pushover team anymore. Willie Green has proven to be the perfect coach for this roster and considering this is his first gig I'd say their turnaround is even more impressive. 

If this team ends up losing to the Clippers, so be it. If they make it out and immediately get waxed by the Suns, who cares. This team started the season 1-12 and we're still talking about them. That's a win and it should shock nobody if we see this team take another leap forward next year. The foundation is there, and sometimes that's the hardest part of a rebuild.