Entering the Orlando bubble, New Orleans Pelicans were the hot pick to make the NBA playoffs as the No.8 seed. Pelicans were on a roll before the season was shut down, had a fairly easy schedule, and genuinely looked like they could overtake the last postseason ticket from Memphis Grizzlies.
However, after the 122-113 defeat to San Antonio Spurs on Sunday night, Pelicans are now out of the playoff race. This also means that we won’t get to watch the highly anticipated playoff duel between Pelicans’ rookie Zion Williamson and LA Lakers’ star LeBron James.
Williamson was one of the leaders for Pelicans against Spurs, dropping 25 points and seven rebounds, while JJ Redick dropped 31 points. However, that wasn’t enough to route the experienced Spurs, who were propelled to win by DeMar DeRozan’s 27 points while four other players were in double digits.
The loss against Spurs was New Orleans’ fourth in the bubble, leaving them two games behind the No.9 seeded Portland Trail Blazers. But since Blazers own the tiebreaker, no matter how the rest of the regular season plays out, Pelicans lost even the chance to find themselves in the play-in tournament.
There is going to be a tight race for the No. 8 in the West as four teams—Grizzlies, Blazers, Spurs, and Phoenix Suns – find themselves within 1.5 games. Sacramento Kings were previously eliminated from the playoffs race as well.
