Chris Paul<\/a> and the Los Angeles Clippers squad nicknamed Lob City. Seeing Jordan show that type of athleticism took teammate Bryce McGowens back to his youth.<\/p>\n\u201cWatching him when I was 7 and 8-years -old and to grow up and be on the same team with him and seeing him doing the same thing, it\u2019s unbelievable,\u201d McGowens said. \u201cHim having 15 rebounds is insane. It\u2019s a credit to him being who he is. He\u2019s a leader even when he\u2019s not playing. And then coming in and dominating the game was crazy to see.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jordan credits the Death Row League for helping him stay prepared to play despite racking up 53 consecutive DNPs (coach\u2019s decision) on the stat sheet before Saturday. The Death Row League is the name the Pels give for their\u00a0 games held before or after practice between players who are out of the rotation or getting limited minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt helps keep a rhythm and keep our conditioning up and still get that competition aspect,\u201d Jordan said.<\/p>\n
Jordan knew when he arrived in New Orleans that there could be many nights he wouldn\u2019t touch the floor. He understood the roster has other big men like Zion Williamson, Derik Queen, Yves Missi, Karlo Matkovic and Kevon Looney.<\/p>\n
\u201cComing in, I knew it was going to be \u2018play some nights\u2019 and \u2018not play some nights\u2019 and (I\u2019d) be more of a mentor,\u201d Jordan said. \u201cBut when my number is called, I\u2019ve got to be ready and that\u2019s what it was tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a way, it was a throwback night as the 76ers started Andre Drummond at center. Ten seasons ago, Jordan was voted as first-team center on the All-NBA team, while Drummond made the third team.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always fun playing against Dre,\u201d Jordan said. \u201cWe\u2019ve had so many battles throughout the course of our careers. Super competitors.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jordan has played in the playoffs 10 times, including each of the past four seasons. With the Pelicans improving to just 16-42 Saturday, Jordan’s playoff\u00a0 streak will end this season. But…\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to continue to stack wins and keep building as this season comes to a close,\u201d Jordan said. \u201cWe\u2019re just trying to see how much noise we can make as the regular season ends.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just three seasons ago, Jordan played on the Denver Nuggets\u2019 championship team. Now he\u2019s trying to spread that winning mindset to his teammates. It\u2019s why he\u2019s always mentoring his younger teammates.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all go through ups and downs, but he keeps everybody level headed,\u201d McGowens said. \u201cHearing his voice and feeling his demeanor has been huge for me and I know it\u2019s been huge for the younger guys, especially the rookies.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jordan has taken rookie center Queen under his wing. Earlier in the season, he instructed Queen to stand up while doing his postgame interview. Queen still does to this day. Jordan can be gentle, putting his arms around a younger player when he\u2019s getting down on himself. Or he can be fiery, which was the case Saturday when told Queen to \u201ccalm the f— down\u201d when he was getting heated. Jordan has been a boost to the locker room. And on Saturday, he provided just as much of a boost on the court.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I\u2019m most proud of is the leadership, the human being (he is), the professional (he is) and the way he\u2019s elevated our program in so many ways,\u201d Borrego said. \u201cHe deserves all that comes with tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
That includes some wine and some ice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DeAndre Jordan craved two things Saturday night when he left the Smoothie King Center. Wine. And ice. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":617718,"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-617717","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":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116114263049665680","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617717","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=617717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/617718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=617717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=617717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=617717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}