The finish line for the New Orleans Pelicans is just 26 games away.<\/p>\n
And truth be told, there isn\u2019t a whole lot waiting for them when they get there.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s really no chance for the playoffs, considering the Pelicans are 12 games behind the 10th-place Los Angeles Clippers in the loss column for the final play-in spot.<\/p>\n
And of course, no draft picks are awaiting them, so there\u2019s no reason to tank either.<\/p>\n
So just what is interim coach James Borrego\u2019s message to his team as they exit the All-Star break and into no man\u2019s land?<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to play our best basketball right now,\u201d Borrego said Thursday. \u201cThe goal is for this to be our best two months of basketball. Wherever that lands us, that lands us. Focus on finishing strong and getting better.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Pelicans went 5-5 in their 10 games before the break. That easily could have been 7-3 except the Pelicans let winnable games against the Milwaukee Bucks and the Charlotte Hornets slip away.<\/p>\n
The Pelicans are just 15-41 heading into Friday night\u2019s game in the Smoothie King Center against the Bucks. That\u2019s just slightly better than the 13-43 record they had after 56 games last season. That team a year ago won just eight more games the rest of the way to finish with the second-fewest wins (21) in an 82-game season in franchise history. This team should be able to eclipse 21 wins.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Trey Murphy made it clear the team isn\u2019t quitting on the season, despite the circumstances. The team’s goals?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTo continue to get better, continue to make strides in the right direction,\u201d Murphy said. \u201cThat\u2019s really all you can control, is how well you can play. I don\u2019t believe in wasting time or wasting days. So, going out there trying to win games and get better is my goal either way. I think that\u2019s just the goal for everybody and the organization as a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite how rough things have been this season, there\u2019s plenty to pay attention to. Questions about the franchise’s future could be answered based on what happens down the stretch. And yes, there are plenty of questions.<\/p>\n
In what could be his final audition, can Borrego do enough to get the interim tag removed from his job title? Borrego, who replaced Willie Green after Green was fired 12 games into the season, is 13-29 since taking over. Borrego is 5-5 with the lineup of Murphy, Herb Jones, Zion Williamson, Saddiq Bey and Derik Queen. Borrego is 10-11 in games Jones has played.What type of impact will Dejounte Murray have after spending the past year rehabbing his torn Achilles suffered last season? Murray is expected to return within a week.\u00a0<\/a>Can rookies Jeremiah Fears and Derik Queen continue to grow and develop?Will Jordan Poole, the second-highest-paid player on the roster, continue to stack DNPs beside his name? He hasn\u2019t played in the past nine games.Will Zion Williamson, who has played in a career-high 30 straight games, continue to be as available as he has been?<\/p>\n These next 26 games will tell us.<\/p>\n What\u2019s a realistic goal?<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m a delusional guy when it comes to stuff like that,\u201d Bey said. \u201cI would never sit here and say we\u2019ve got to go 13-13. We play Milwaukee (Friday). Let\u2019s try to beat Milwaukee. We play Philly the next day. Let\u2019s try to beat Philly. And just see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n After the team\u2019s loss to the Miami Heat before the All-Star break, Borrego encouraged his players to enjoy the time off and come back ready to work.<\/p>\n \u201cThis group has been through a lot this season to this point,\u201d Borrego said. \u201cI love the battle they are showing; the growth they are showing. We have to come back and be ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n Yes, even in a season that\u2019s going nowhere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The finish line for the New Orleans Pelicans is just 26 games away. And truth be told, there…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":613616,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3796],"tags":[7,5498,6,478,470,4073,4072,675],"class_list":{"0":"post-613615","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-orleans-pelicans","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-hardwall","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-new-orleans","12":"tag-new-orleans-pelicans","13":"tag-neworleans","14":"tag-neworleanspelicans","15":"tag-pelicans"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=613615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/613616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=613615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=613615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=613615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}