Can a team lose all 13 of its first 13 regular season games or win only one, can it make the playoffs?
Yes, but with very little probability. Prior to this season, only three teams had made the mark: the Bulls in 1967–68 (1-12), the Cavaliers in 1984–85 (1–12) and the Suns in 96–97 (0-13).
Now as we all know, the New Orleans Pelicans are the fourth team to start with a 1-12 loss.
Regarding the Pelicans, it gives the impression that, in addition to the complicated relationship with Charlotte, New Orleans, and the Hornets, which are confusing for a while, mostly appear as weak brigades wandering in the middle and lower reaches. After becoming Pelicans, they played only two playoff games, the first time in 2015, thick eyebrows, Juholadi, Tyrek Evans in the first round was powerless to resist Curry, who won the championship in the first round, and the second time was in 2018, the Pelicans with thick eyebrows, Juhorday, Rondo and injured Cousins swept the Blazers in the first round, but were swept by the Warriors gentleman in the second round.
Thick Brow later swapped owners with Ingram; Zion landed in New Orleans, but injuries left him out of the game for a long time, and the talent was only a blank check.
In the past three years, the winning rate is not more than half, no one regards them as a playoff team, this season, still not optimistic, in the case of Zion's re-reimbursement and a wave of 1 wins and 12 losses, even they themselves seem to have lost confidence, the boss has long calculated the business after the regular season, probably with the psychology of hopelessness in the playoffs anyway, actually rented the Smoothie King Center to a concert to use, and the concert had to be postponed because of the conflict with the unexpected playoff time.
In the face of all kinds of singing, the pelicans are not anxious to think of eating fat in one bite, their strategy is to seek stability first, set a small goal first, take a step to see a step, first strive to win a few more games, and then stop the decline. Try to grab a play-off spot again and try to make it to the playoffs.
If you can enter the playoffs, then see if you can break through the first round, it is better to advance, and if you do not advance, you will become a ren, that is, you will die with bone and dignity, in short, to avoid shaving your head.
In the offseason after the end of the 2020-21 season, the Pelicans saw many new faces. Rookies Trey Murphy and Herbert Jones were picked by the Pelicans; through a trade, Graham and Valanciunas rushed from the Hornets and Grizzlies. Big Van Gundy, who had long been at odds with Ingram, left and was replaced by new coach Willie Green; the stadium commander, Brother Ball, also went to Chicago in Ingram's desperation. The Heat and pelicans were torn over the Ingram deal, but negotiations never went any further. Zion has news that it is possible to return before the start of the regular season.
Overall, according to the strength of the paper, such a team with young people as the team looks vigorous and has unlimited prospects.
But at the start of the regular season, Zion was still hopeless to return. Ingram injured his knee in preseason, directly affecting his form at the beginning of the season, playing six games, averaging 7.5 points per game and missing seven games with a hip injury. The absence of the two top players, coupled with the sluggishness of Alexander Walker's gang of raw melon eggs, the rookie coach willi Green, the first coaching whip, is inexperienced, and various factors interact to lead to a 1 win and 12 losses.
Green coach Usha Hat is not unsafe, but at this time there is no other choice, in the hope of the return of the top scorer Ingram, and give Ingram more offensive immunity, must let the new people grow up quickly.
The most urgent thing is to find the key to victory first. Green pulls Ingram to watch the video, especially when Ingram is not in good shape, and will watch it repeatedly, so be sure to find a solution. As a result, they decided to abandon Ingram's conservative play style of play in the era of the big Van Gundy, and Green targeted him to break the limitations and use the advantage more to single with his back in response to his increasing number of times he was packed; avoid excessive sticking, let the ball flow and increase interaction with teammates; appropriately increase the running position without the ball; attack resolutely, use diversion to create shooting space for teammates.
When Ingram first arrived in New Orleans, he took the advice of former coach Gentry, followed the trend, and pulled the range beyond the three-point line, where he shot more three-point shots per season in the pelicans' first two seasons than he had in the entire Lakers. But this season, Ingram has focused more on the firing range and inside the free throw line, making it as easy as possible for himself and his teammates to find empty spots. In the first two seasons, Ingram scored half of the points within the three-point line. This year, that number is 58.9 percent, and his mid-shot ratio is 56 percent, the highest in his career, behind deRozan and Durant.
Liberated Ingram's injury and illness, the state has fluctuated, but as a leader, he has played a very different game temperament than before, he can often play games that are both pleasing to the eye and can cut high scores, but he still can't avoid taking the empty group leader as a fool. Willie Green still has no way of finding a quick recipe for winning, but he has his own way of coaching.
Coach Green, a player by training, served as assistant coach for the Warriors in 2016-19, during which time he reached the Finals three times in a row and won two championships, and then served as an assistant coach for the Suns in 2019-21, and helped the team return to the Finals after 28 years.
His glittering resume gave him an edge in his bid for the Pelicans managerial role, and many managers in the league recognized his level of business. David Griffin spoke highly of him: "Willie Green has become one of the NBA's most respected assistant coaches, in large part because of his tireless professional attitude and authentic character traits. As a player-turned-coach, he brings a wealth of basketball knowledge and experience to our team, and he also has excellent leadership skills and an innate ability to connect players, team staff and fans. ”
"The Suns missed the playoffs for 10 consecutive years before reaching the Finals last year, and Willie was one of the key reasons they made it to the Finals. Of course we want to start winning from the start of the new season, but it will take some time. But I'm sure we've found what the team needs from Willie Green. Speaking of the team's bad start, David Griffin is still supporting the New coach. And what he said was true, Green did give the Pelican something different, that is, a spiritual outlook.
As the Eighth Head Coach in Pelicans history, Green lived up to the trust of owner Gayle Benson and team vice president David Griffin in making the Pelicans reach heights beyond expectations. If you've seen his passionate speech against the Clippers at the time-offs in the playoffs, everyone is grateful and bows their heads to him. It can only be said that he is too good at incitement. Your adrenal glands and dopamine are all perfectly grasped by him. More and more coaches like to be on the offensive, as if they don't have enough eloquence to impress people's hearts, and they are ashamed to admit that they are coaches.
But you have to admit that green's passion for coaching is very contagious, especially for young people, the enthusiasm is gushing out, turning into the field, that is, endless running, rebounding, steals... There's reason to believe that Speaker Green has done it all season and enjoyed it.
And Coach Green's most noteworthy and most commendable thing is his use of newcomers, which is completely eclectic and the number of ways to reduce talents. You see how Herbert Jones, Tre Murphy, Avarrado played confident step by step under his hands, and there are four players in the regular rotation who have played in the development league, you know how courageous and courageous this coach is, and it is enough to do this in the regular season, and the playoffs are such a high-intensity game that must be fought over, and he still spares no effort to send them to the court, which is simply bold and terrible.
According to statistics, the Pelicans rookie played more than 370 minutes in the playoffs, ranking first, and the second-place Raptors only had more than 100 minutes. The artist is bold, and coach Green must be praised here.
Of course, the arrival of CJ McCollum and Nance Jr. is also an important force in the second half of the team. McCollum is an All-Star star, and his arrival has effectively shared in Therlome's scoring pressure.
The Pelicans bumped all the way and finished ninth in the West with a record of 36 wins and 46 losses, but the good guys got the chance to play the play-offs. There are still many young people on this team who have not tasted the playoffs. Green, as the head coach, has never played. Tre Murphy, Alvarado, Herbert Jones, Hayes, Graham and Marshall all retain their playoff debuts.
Don't miss any chances to move forward, so the Pelicans in the playoffs are completely clockwork, and they're so hungry to knock on the playoff doors. Alvarado's three-pointers against the Spurs and Ingram's heroic performance announced the official start of their bloody performance.
We gotta fight, unity, they are united like pelicans like social birds, this sloppy temperament of the team, as if forced to liangshan, grass for cowardice, with guerrilla ways to circumvent the sun. Green also had to do everything he could to win against his friend Monty and former teammate Paul.
In the first game, the Pelicans faced the sun with a healthy and tidy personnel, and when they were defended by the sun for 24 seconds, they learned the sun's defensive skills. But Green and Monty's fighting method is really wonderful, see the move, you come and go, in the third quarter, the Pelicans actually played an 18-4 attack wave, stunned to chase the 20+ point difference to single digits, the Pelicans seem to have lifted the sun's gauze skirt, and sent a signal: we are not good bullies.
But the sun is always hot after all, and Paul's single verse of 19 points declares sovereignty, and fat beats pelicans.
In the second game, Green did not change the strategy of defending Paul because of the loss of the first game, he still let Paul shoot as much as possible, but limited the scores of other players, especially Paul and Ayton.
The Pelicans' forward strength is not a loss, the whole field is practicing the competitive philosophy of blindness must be repaid, when you see Bridges and Hyth in each other's aerial hats, when you see Graham, who is in his early 180s, can still be more than 8,000 kilometers away from Shamet and can still quickly and whip with lightning speed to cover Shamet's three points, turn back to Shamet's partition Graham, when you see Hayes use his height to firmly cover Booker's shots and breakthroughs, when you see Herbert Jones pounce on the floor to steal, You know how tough the Pelicans are.
The Suns will never be as crisp and crisp as they were last year's Nuggets. The Pelicans used the entanglement and sticker to the extreme, achieving miraculous results, and in the end, Paul only scored 17 points on 5-of-16 shooting, and Ayton only had 6 shots in the whole game.
After the Pelicans pulled back a city, they got "positive" news - Booker retired injured, missing a scoring point of 26.8 per game, and the Pelicans were more confident.
In games three and four, the Pelicans returned home with a high attendance and New Orleans fans were happy to see their home team Black 8(9) succeed. An important theme change in these two games is the defense of Sixth Master Avarrado against Paul. Avashan can steal defense, the young man is in opposition to Paul, quite like The way Lou directed the defense of Iverson, and his defense did work, he successfully made the famous point guard god two 8-second violations, and contributed a 9-point performance in a single quarter. With Ava on the floor, the team conceded 8-9 points less per 100 possessions. So at critical moments, Coach Willie Green will still put Ava on the court and call him to the sidelines from time to time to teach him.
Without Booker's sun, Paul is a barometer. In the third game, Paul scored 28 points and the Suns won; in the fourth game, Paul scored 4 points, and the Suns lost.
At the Battle of King's Mountain, Bridges' 31 points exploded, they worked on Ingram's bag clamp, making it difficult for him to catch the ball every time, McCollum did not give effective help, the Pelicans played a little dull this game, obviously Monty was skilled, pinpointed the Pelicans' life goal, and fixed the score at 3-2. The sixth game was Paul's solo show, no one could resist his ordinary attack under the gods in 14 shots and 14 shots, but the Pelicans were not frightened, they always clung to the score, and the game was both anxious and glued, which was wonderful.
Toward the end of the first half, the Pelicans took advantage of the Suns' consecutive turnovers to make it 11-0 and end the first half with a 10-point lead. Booker returns, but is not in good shape to force Paul's killer qualities. But at the end of the third quarter, the Pelicans still led 85-82, and with one section left, they could drag the game into a tie-seven. In the final 1 minute and 43 seconds, the Pelicans led by one point. Statistics, at the critical moment, the Suns won 33 and lost 9, and soon they will turn 33 into 34. Booker's next three-pointer and Bridges' deadly steals and quick-break scores were solid enough to kill the Pelicans.
The Pelicans tumbled after a full season of rage.
The miracle was not staged, but the Pelicans' performance was enough to make people send flowers and applause convincingly, and they not only managed to reach the playoffs, but also faced a strong opponent, did not fall behind, and even let people see the hope of the following grams. But in the end, the strength was not good, stopping the first round. Although it is difficult to escape death,
But being able to wrench the wrist with the first team in the regular season to the last minute of the sixth game is already a wonderful miracle, they have to stubbornly pull back every time they lose, even if they can't pull back, they won't easily let the opponent win from the top of their heads, which is worth taking off the hat to pay tribute. Most importantly, it truly demonstrates the competitiveness that an amazing sports team should have and gives the Pelicans clear hope for years to come.