Cleveland Cavaliers

New Orleans Pelicans: Dispatch from the Blender, Bandwagon Fans Edition

Updated Mar. 5, 2020 1:21 a.m. ET

Fansided, Rory Callais/FanSided via Pelican Debrief

Rory Callais takes you inside the New Orleans Pelicans’ arena following a win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, in the latest Dispatch from the Blender.

Every NBA season, they come. Unexpectedly high numbers of people in communities throughout the country with never-before-revealed deep roots in Los Angeles or Oakland or Cleveland and then Miami and then Cleveland again. They come to actively root against the home team, to cheer on LeBron James or Kobe Bryant or Steph Curry or Kevin Durant.

They are the Bandwagon Fans, and they showed up in full force Monday night at the Smoothie King Center, where the New Orleans Pelicans faced the Cleveland Cavaliers.

These bandwagon fans were initially no different from others. They cheered when James did something impressive or when Kyrie Irving drained a three (both happened fairly often). While they didn’t necessarily cheer against the Pelicans, they would complain when they felt James was on the receiving end of an unfair call (which does not happen very often).

But then something strange happened: the Pelicans — minus an injured Anthony Davis — began to take command of the game. Jrue Holiday and Terrence Jones poured in points, while many Cavs players who were not James or Irving shot brick after brick. Other Pelicans began to chip in, and the lead swelled to 20 points at halftime.

Sure enough, the lead shrank in the second half. Many bandwagoners began to wonder how a suspect team without its best player could possibly give up such a large lead to the healthier defending NBA champions. Not all bandwagon fans have equal basketball knowledge.

However, though the score tightened in the winding minutes, it began to dawn on the crowd that a Pelicans victory was an actual possibility. Then, the bandwagoners found another wagon. As the Pelicans made key plays down the stretch to ensure victory — a Jones block on James, a Holiday three, etc. — the crowd roared with delight. Even the bandwagon fans got swept up in seeing the home team underdogs pull off an upset.

Obviously, people still cheered for the Cavaliers. Some even complained when it became clear the Pelicans would win. But at least for one night, the New Orleans Pelicans provided a wagon worth riding.