THE Pelicans and the “play-in” is a love story, not always happy. In 2022, the New Orleans franchise passed both obstacles, against the Spurs then the Clippers, before playing in the first round of the playoffs against the Suns. In 2023, however, the adventure ends in the first match, against the Thunder.
This is why, this year, and while they occupy sixth place – the last qualifier directly for the playoffs – in the Western Conference, they do not want to go through this box.
“This is clearly one of our objectives”, confirms Willie Green. “It’s one more step for us, not to play the play-in. We can control our destiny by winning as many matches as possible. »
Rest, no play-in
The last two seasons, to snatch sixth place in the West, you had to win 48 then 44 matches. With 33 victories for 22 defeats, the Pelicans are on the basis of a season with 49 successes. So finishing with 50 wins would be perfect to secure a place in the playoffs. ” We'll see. I like this number. If we can reach it, it will be good”slips the coach.
CJ McCollum hopes to avoid the “play-in” so as not to add one or two matches to play before a possible first round. “We want to be able to rest during this time. We haven’t been able to do it for two years”regrets the former Portlander. “When you play a play-in, you then have to move on to the playoffs without being able to breathe. This makes things even more difficult. »
The best way is therefore to keep this sixth place, while the Mavericks (32-23) and the Kings (31-23) are not very far behind in the standings. “We have to take advantage of these 27 remaining matches. We must stay in control of our destiny and not worry about the rest.”concludes the rear.
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| Zion Williamson | 44 | 30.5 | 58.5 | 36.4 | 68.4 | 1.8 | 3.8 | 5.5 | 4.8 | 2.5 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 2.3 | 22.4 |
| Brandon Ingram | 51 | 33.3 | 49.0 | 36.2 | 79.4 | 0.7 | 4.3 | 5.0 | 5.8 | 2.5 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 2.3 | 21.4 |
| Cj Mccollum | 41 | 32.1 | 46.1 | 42.1 | 79.8 | 0.6 | 3.7 | 4.3 | 4.6 | 1.6 | 1.1 | 0.8 | 2.1 | 19.0 |
| Jonas Valanciunas | 55 | 25.5 | 57.3 | 34.1 | 79.6 | 2.6 | 6.8 | 9.4 | 2.3 | 1.4 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 2.9 | 13.7 |
| Trey Murphy III | 30 | 25.8 | 43.5 | 36.1 | 80.6 | 0.5 | 3.2 | 3.7 | 1.6 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 1.2 | 12.7 |
| Herb Jones | 50 | 28.7 | 49.7 | 40.7 | 86.0 | 1.2 | 2.5 | 3.7 | 2.4 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 2.8 | 11.0 |
| Jordan Hawkins | 48 | 20.2 | 40.1 | 38.1 | 84.7 | 0.5 | 2.1 | 2.7 | 1.3 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 9.6 |
| Matt Ryan | 14 | 21.6 | 44.7 | 47.1 | 92.9 | 0.4 | 1.9 | 2.2 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 1.7 | 8.6 |
| Naji Marshall | 44 | 18.5 | 46.0 | 37.8 | 79.2 | 1.0 | 2.5 | 3.5 | 1.9 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 1.5 | 7.5 |
| Jose Alvarado | 37 | 16.6 | 41.8 | 35.7 | 68.4 | 0.4 | 1.8 | 2.2 | 1.8 | 0.7 | 1.1 | 0.3 | 1.5 | 6.9 |
| Dyson Daniels | 52 | 21.9 | 43.8 | 29.1 | 64.0 | 1.0 | 2.7 | 3.7 | 2.6 | 1.0 | 1.4 | 0.4 | 1.6 | 5.5 |
| Larry Nance, Jr. | 37 | 18.6 | 56.9 | 45.5 | 72.2 | 1.4 | 3.8 | 5.2 | 1.6 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 1.4 | 5.5 |
| Jeremiah Robinson earl | 21 | 10.0 | 51.7 | 36.4 | 90.9 | 0.7 | 1.6 | 2.3 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 3.7 |
| Kira Lewis, Jr. | 15 | 9.6 | 30.8 | 10.0 | 90.9 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 2.9 |
| Dereon Seabron | 5 | 10.5 | 30.8 | 50.0 | 83.3 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 1.4 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 2.8 |
| Cody Zeller | 36 | 8.0 | 39.6 | 33.3 | 60.0 | 1.1 | 1.6 | 2.6 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 1.8 |
| Ej Liddell | 8 | 2.9 | 16.7 | 0.0 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.5 |
| Kaiser Gates | 1 | 7.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
