The New Orleans Pelicans have been one of the most disappointing teams of the NBA season. Coming off of a playoff season and with new head coach Alvin Gentry instilling a sense of hope, expectations were at a high for the team. Unfortunately, the Pelicans have been unable to live up to those expectations.
The disappointments reached a peak on Wednesday after the Pelicans lost a close game to the Houston Rockets. New Orleans was unable to capitalize on a poor shooting night from the Rockets as they gave up 100 points to a team who shot just 3-34 from three en route to a five point loss.
Gentry was evidently quite angry about the run of events, speaking to media after the game and harshly evaluating his team.
The following from John Reid of NOLA.com:
“We come out here after every game and we talk about that we’re still in the playoff race, ‘No we’re not, Ok,'” Gentry told reporters after the game.
“What we are is a team that when we have an opportunity to do something, we didn’t get it done. So that is the bottom line.”
“We’re up six points and we turn the ball over three-straight times, you can’t do that and win on the road,” Gentry said. “It’s that simple.”
The Pelicans are 23-36 and six games behind the eighth seed in the West. With all due respect to Coach Gentry, their playoff chances had been dead for quite a while. Of course, frustration is to be expected with an underachieving team. But it is also fair to point out that there are legitimate flaws with the roster that must be fixed in order to have any fair expectations for success.
For now, the Pelicans must attempt to get through the season and rebuild from the ground up.
