Back in December, the New Orleans Pelicans were mired in a 13-game losing streak that seemed never-ending, Zion Williamson was still injured, Alvin Gentry was on the hot seat and it looked like a lost season. Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight.com gave the Pelicans just a 19 percent chance of making the playoffs, and considering they were 6-22 at the time, that seemed optimistic.
That is when the season turned around for the Pelicans. They started stringing together wins behind All-Star Brandon Ingram and when Zion returned the Pelicans looked like a completely different team.