New Orleans Pelicans coach Willie Green argues a call during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Oklahoma City Thunder at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024. (Staff photo by Scott Threlkeld, The Times-Picayune)
STAFF PHOTO BY SCOTT THRELKELD
This time a year ago, the New Orleans Pelicans were a part of the knockout round of the NBA’s inaugural in-season tournament.
They were gearing up to play the Sacramento Kings in the first round of the tournament with a trip to Las Vegas for the semifinals on the line.
The Pelicans handled their business against the Kings, then made the trek to Vegas where they got manhandled by the eventual tournament champion Los Angeles Lakers in the semis.
Fast forward to 2024 and the Pelicans didn’t make it out of group play to advance to the knockout round, which began Tuesday night. Instead, the Pelicans are busy trying to put what has been an injury-riddled season back together.
For the first time this season, the team gets a three-day break between its loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday and its next game against the Kings on Thursday in the Smoothie King Center.
Willie Green is hoping the rare extra day off between games can help the 5-20 Pelicans get back on track.
“It’s great for us in the sense that we got a good day off (Monday) to fill our cups, rest and recover,” Green said after Tuesday’s practice. “We had a really good practice today. A high-level, detailed practice. We’ll get another one Wednesday.”
Green’s team has won just one of its last 12 games. The Pelicans have struggled both at home and on the road.
“We’re very excited for this three-day break (between games),” Trey Murphy said. “To be able to rejuvenate a little bit and be ready for Thursday’s game.”
There is plenty to work on. Green rattled off a long list when asked about the areas the Pelicans need to improve.
“Making sure that we value possessions,” he said. “Don’t give teams more opportunities to score on us. Our shot profile. Making sure we are getting closer to 40 3s up (per game). And quality 3s. We want to get our assist numbers up. We feel like that’s an area we can really grow.”
Of course, he’d like to see his team do a better job of closing games. The Pelicans led 116-114 with a minute left in their latest loss to the Spurs but were unable to score the rest of the way. They shot 0 of 3 over the game’s final 60 seconds. Dejounte Murray’s 8-foot jumper rimmed out. Rookie Yves Missi missed a put-back attempt. And then Murphy missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer with 10 seconds left.
“Three good looks,” Green said. “We’ve got to knock them down.”
On the defensive end, the Pelicans are giving up 116.7 points per game, which ranks 23rd in the league and third worst in the Western Conference.
“We have got to guard the ball better and keep teams out of our paint, and we’ve got to do better in transition," Green said.
Three days still is not enough time to fix all of the problems, but Green is making the most of the extra time.
“You can’t work on everything at one time,” he said. “We’re trying to take one or two concepts on both ends of the floor. Watch film. Walk out on the floor and teach it. Work on it on the floor and making sure we’re implementing and seeing it carry over in the games.”