National Basketball Association

Is New Orleans Pelicans' Fantastic Week Sign of Future Success or Simple Mirage

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 9:12 p.m. ET

Fansided, Rick Stone/FanSided via Pelican Debrief

After rattling off wins against the Cleveland Cavaliers and San Antonio Spurs this week, are the New Orleans Pelicans showing signs of future success?

This has been a fun week for New Orleans Pelicans fans.

After last night’s win, the Pelicans have beaten the defending NBA Champions Cavaliers and New Orleans’ juggernaut division rival Spurs in a matter of five days.

These are two wins many did not expect, looking at the schedule prior.

That includes the fact San Antonio was only missing Pau Gasol and the Pelicans were without Anthony Davis, in their game against the Cavs.

These are statement wins. Hopeful wins. Wins that give everyone hope for a turnaround this year.

The question now becomes if this actually is a sign for future success, or if it is just a mirage.

So which is it?

In their two massive wins, the Pelicans have scored 119 and 124 points versus the 2nd and 17th best defenses in the league. Compare that to New Orleans’ average of 103.3 points per game and it’s easy to see the outlier.

Both victories saw the three-point shooting of the Pelicans shine. New Orleans shot 43.3% from deep versus San Antonio and 41% against Cleveland.

They average 35.7% on the season from downtown. That’s quite the difference.

What is an even bigger difference is the fact the two top long-range shooting teams both shot over 40% as well in those wins. Both teams New Orleans beat put up at least 100 points of their own, yet the Pelicans stayed firm.

The two anchors of these games have been Jrue Holiday and Terrence Jones. Holiday averaged 28 points and 10.5 assists in the two wins. He also totaled five steals and four blocks in the victories. Jones, who started for Davis in the Cleveland win and came off the bench against the Spurs, averaged 28.5 points, nine rebounds and 2.5 offensive rebounds in the triumphs.

These are stat-lines that could very well continue going forward. Jrue looks comfortable once again on the floor and is starting to look like his old self. Terrence is playing out of his mind and seems to be very cozy in the up-tempo offense of Alvin Gentry.

Another key that may be a real statement going forward is their bench. In both wins, the Pelicans’ bench outscored their opponents by wide margins. Against the Cavs, the Pels won the bench battle 40-13. Their margin against the Spurs brought more of a challenge, yet still a 55-38 victory. Tyreke Evans, E’Twaun Moore and Langston Galloway all saw one game of ten points off the bench. Donatas Motiejunas scored at least ten in both games.

While this all seems doable going forward, there are some things that may not hold. Both the Cavs and Spurs went through major cold streaks in the Pels’ victories. While New Orleans did have impressive defense, their opponents did miss plenty of makeable shots. If they want to make these wins more consistent, the defense needs to be better. That especially stands for help defense, that seems to get there too slow at times.

Still, this set of wins means quite a bit for the Pelicans. In some minds, it is a set of games New Orleans has exceeded expectations. For others, it is an optimistic sign of things to come later on in the year, possibly mirroring a playoff run like 2015. It is difficult to be exactly sure. However, the one thing that is for sure is the Pelicans need to keep playing how they are now, in order to continue winning games.

This is the most complete display of basketball the New Orleans Pelicans have compiled all season. For this team to have a chance at the playoffs, they will need to find out what changes in the offense and defense in this past week can be made repeatable. The past two games are what fans have been hoping from this Pelicans’ team all season. Here’s to hoping they can continue their success in the final three months of the campaign.