Pelicans proving they're on the rise this postseason

The New Orleans Pelicans may not win a single game in their second-round series with the Golden State Warriors. Their chance to steal a game with Steph Curry still out ended with the Warriors winning by 16. Game 2 was a five-point loss with Curry coming off the bench. Game 3 shifts to New Orleans, and the Warriors will start Curry, going back to their regular rotation. The Pels may get swept, but they weren’t supposed to be here in the first place.

After DeMarcus Cousins went down with a torn Achilles, it would have been easy to write off the season as yet another year in which Anthony Davis squanders his all-world talent set on another basketball team without the talent surrounding him to make the postseason. Instead, New Orleans shocked the basketball world with a smooth sweep of the third-seeded Portland Trail Blazers that saw the Pels tighten up enough defensively that Damian Lillard averaged a whole nine points fewer than his regular-season totals.

The Pelicans are a team full of resolve that set and exceed its own expectations. Everything begins and ends with Davis, but the little pockets of performance in between are what made this season in New Orleans full of unexpected accomplishments and really fun basketball.

It’s hard to render a future in which the Pelicans come out on top of the Warriors, but the recent past tells us that, even if they go down in four games, they’ll be competitive in every contest because of the makeup of the team. Davis’s steady-handed brilliance is held afloat by the supporting cast.

Jrue Holiday did everything but set up a home in Lillard’s fourth-quarter real estate, not just shutting him down in the time in which Dame has shined, but hitting timely shots and playing within the offense to keep the Blazers on their heels. He’s struggled a bit from the field in the two games against the Warriors. Even on a night in which he dropped 24, he needed 24 shots to get there. Despite his struggles in Oakland, he’s become an instrumental part of a machine that needs all components running smoothly to be at its best.

If this postseason has taught us anything about these Pelicans, it's that they’re hurt by a lack of depth when the starters struggle, but they can really pour it on on both sides of the floor when everyone has it going.

Rajon Rondo has been another aside from Davis who has helped set the tone for this team. In the first game of the playoffs, he finished with 17 assists. In the entire Portland series, he attempted 39 shots; in two against the Warriors he’s already up to 25. He’s becoming more aggressive and looking for his shot, especially early in games to help open up passing lanes later (he’s averaging 11.5 dimes in two games against GSW). His 22 and 12 helped keep Game 2 close, and if the Pelicans received a few more attempts at the charity stripe, this was a game they could have stolen.

Davis has been, and will have to continue to be, excellent though. The Warriors have effectively flipped the switch in this postseason and are executing at a high level. Davis is the only transcendent star not playing for the Warriors in this series and the only transcendent star not getting the calls he deserves. Davis has attempted four free throws during the course of the series — the Warriors had four players attempt five or more free throws in Game 2 alone. In a five-point loss, an additional 18 free throws more than your opponent is the difference between a 2-0 and 1-1 start.

Despite the lack of calls, Davis still has a bit of room for growth. In February, immediately following Cousins’ injury, he averaged 35-13 with 2.5 blocks and 2.5 steals. He flashed the kind of destruction he can unleash on a team in the first half, scoring 14 points, six coming in an insane 90-second stretch midway through the second quarter.

The difference between the first and second round for these Pelicans is playing against a good and great basketball team. The future is ostensibly bright, though. Cousins is an unrestricted free agent, but with the injury, the asking price could be low enough that the Pels can reel him back in. Davis seemingly loved playing aside both Cousins and Rondo and was having a career year playing alongside another dominant big.

Even without Cousins, the Pelicans should have plenty of cap space to help remedy their depth issue. Their Rondo-Holiday-Davis core along with Nikola Mirotic’s shooting and a few other pieces make these Pelicans terrifying to think about next season — especially if they can shore up a few of the defensive missteps that Davis has been forced to clean up.

These playoffs have been completely unpredictable at times, and Game 3 could see a dramatic turn with a career-defining performance. Or things will go as expected. Regardless of how things end, the Pels have had a hell of a season, and there's no reason to believe the future will be anything but promising with The Brow leading the way.