The New Orleans Pelicans are feeling more comfortable at the bottom of the Western Conference after losing 104-96 to the Golden State Warriors. This was seriously the worst game I’ve seen the Pelicans play all season. Some nights we’ve seen this group lose because the shots weren’t falling, there was a lack of effort, or the skill gap between them and the opponent was too great. But tonight it was a combination of all of these things, which made for an extremely tough watch.
The first quarter ended with New Orleans leading 18-17. Yes, you read that correctly. In the year 2025, the first quarter of an NBA game ended with neither team reaching 20 points. And things got worse from there: neither team did anything creative on offense, there was almost no ball movement and a lot of standing around, leading to contested shots late in the shot clock.
The Pelicans shot 37.2 percent from the field and 23.3 percent from three, which was downright embarrassing.
I understand you were missing two starters tonight in Trey Murphy III and Herb Jones, but that won’t be an excuse to play as poorly as the Pelicans. Not to mention, Golden State was also missing a key player… Steph Curry.
The Warriors’ net rating this season is -17.3, worse when Steph Curry isn’t on the court than when he is. But instead of exploiting this, the Pelicans had Gary Payton II come off the bench and tear up their defense for 14 points.
If you’re still on the side that the Pelicans don’t need to make a trade or shake up this roster, I hope you’ve changed your mind tonight.
Twenty losses before five wins could be a reality for the Pelicans
With this loss, the Pelicans are now 3-17 on the season, and their next few games suggest there’s a very good chance New Orleans loses 20 games before winning five. The Pels take on the Lakers tomorrow, then play back-to-backs against the Timberwolves on Tuesday and Thursday, the Nets on Saturday and the Spurs the following Monday.
That’s an extremely tough five-game stretch, especially since they have to play the LeBron James and Luka Dončić-led Los Angeles Lakers tomorrow as part of a back-to-back.
I’d say things are starting to get ugly for the Pelicans, but that would be a lie: things have been ugly for this organization since the start of this season. Being 3-17 doesn’t just happen; it stems from poor squad formation, mediocre coaching decisions and poor execution on the pitch.
At one point, there was optimism that if the Pelicans could stay afloat in the West until Dejounte Murray returned in the new year, they could push for a playoff spot. Now it’s even hard to see the point of Murray returning this season.
Something has to shake – and soon, because losses like tonight are becoming less and less of a surprise and more and more of an expectation.
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