Two teams still “figuring it out” will meet Wednesday night in New Orleans when the Pelicans face the Brooklyn Nets.
New Orleans (4-7) is coming off the franchise’s worst regular-season loss, a 51-point beatdown by the Golden State Warriors on Monday night. Even though the Pelicans played without Zion Williamson and Trey Murphy on the second night of a back-to-back set, the loss was embarrassing.
“We got our (tail) kicked,” Pelicans coach Jamahl Mosley told NOLA.com. “No other way to put it. They came in and punched us in the mouth, and we didn’t respond the right way.”
After starting the season 0-4, the Pelicans showed promise with a four-game winning streak, but they now have lost three straight.
“That’s two nights in a row we allowed our offense to dictate our defense,” Mosley said, referring to the 139 points allowed Sunday against the Los Angeles Clippers and 138 on Monday night vs. the Warriors. “To understand how we want to play, sometimes you’ve got to get hit in the dang mouth. And we got hit in the mouth twice. How we will respond is going to say a lot about us. And that’s all of us.”
Making matters worse for the Pelicans were the postgame remarks by former Warrior and current Pelicans guard Jordan Poole, who said he was hoping to return to Golden State after his contract expires at the end of the season.
“I mean, they just play the right way, bro. They play good basketball. They play team basketball,” Poole said when asked about the Warriors. “Obviously, the environment is pretty high-level. Like I said, once you put in a lot of work, you got hardware with a team, with an organization, with a city, you’re kind of cemented in history. So it’s good. But do I miss it? Hell, yeah.”
The Pelicans won’t get much sympathy from Brooklyn. The Nets are 2-8 and in rebuilding mode. They began the season 0-5 and suffered an ugly loss Sunday to the Mavericks in Dallas, 130-93.
“We were not connected, and we made a lot of mistakes,” Nets coach Jordi Fernandez said afterward. “And then a team like (the Mavericks), when they’re in a rhythm with the players that they have, it’s when you can get hurt. And I think they made some tough ones, and we also allowed some.”
Guard Egor Demin has missed the last six games with a bone bruise in his leg. First-round draft pick Mikel Brown Jr. sat out against Dallas as the club continues to keep him out of back-to-back sets. The No. 6 overall pick has 18 points in each of his last two games.
The team’s offensive load has been carried by Michael Porter Jr., who is averaging 21.5 points per game, and Julius Randle (20).
“It never is as bad as it looks, but our body language does drop,” Nets center Moritz Wagner said. “We lack a little maturity there as a group. It’s nobody’s fault; it’s just everybody kind of in new roles, everybody getting used to it, which is an excuse. It’s something we have to look in the mirror for, everybody for himself, and kind of figure it out.”
