When the second half of the NBA regular season begins Thursday, the New Orleans Pelicans (23-32) will be 5 1/2 games behind eighth-place Memphis (28-26) in the Western Conference standings. By the time they take the court Friday at Moda Center to face Portland, the Pelicans could be six games back, with only 27 games remaining on their regular season schedule. Although that would seemingly be an exceptionally difficult deficit to overcome, New Orleans has already made a habit out of turning bleak situations into something better in 2019-20. The Pelicans started the season 1-7, but eventually fought their way back into playoff contention.
Pelicans face 5.5-game deficit for eighth in West, but have NBA’s most favorable schedule
