The Pelicans have been in a lot of close games this season. Only the Spurs game was an outright blowout, and the Pelicans have now logged the second highest number of “clutch” minutes (defined as last 5 minutes, within 5 of other team) in the league. Obviously, with zero wins, the team hasn’t exactly been stellar in those minutes. What is the difference there? How can they play even for 45 minutes, and then just suck?
The answer is going small. And it’s been terrible.
This is an Alvin Gentry coached team. He’s thinking offense. The Pelicans don’t have a lot of bigs with offensive skill – so he tries to cobble together a bunch of smalls who might be able to do something.