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One shot, one play, can elicit so many emotions and alter a season’s momentum, but the respective locker rooms usually come to a consensus. While one group celebrates, another grovels and wonders what could have been if only one shot, one play, went differently. The New Orleans Pelicans and Boston Celtics game is just the latest perfect example.
The Pelicans’ aggressive nature that led to a win over the Milwaukee Bucks earlier in the week was absent during Saturday’s home loss to the Eastern Conference champions. That lack of an edge factored into New Orleans not getting on the same page after Derrick White’s shot to end the first half gave Boston their first lead. The Pelicans answered by scoring only 11 points in the third quarter in what wound up being a 104-92 loss.
CJ McCollum and Zion Williamson shared mixed emotions when asked about White’s buzzer-beating shot to give the Celtics a lead going into the halftime break.
McCollum, with a crying child in tow, sounded emotionally crushed in the postgame press conference.
“That last shot at the end of the second quarter hurt. Derrick (White) got that three off at the buzzer. It was a big momentum swing. Then in the third quarter (White) was a big part of their run and they got stops. We scored 11 points in the third quarter. We’ve got to do a better job of coming out with energy…I think we competed but we’ve got to do stuff a little bit better, a little bit harder, and a little bit more consistently to beat a team like (the Celtics).”
Zion Williamson was less “worried” about what White was doing on one shot. The two-time NBA All-Star was more focused on how the Pelicans can make playing with a playoff consistency a priority.
“(White’s shot), that’s basketball. It’s a game of runs but at halftime, it was a one- or two-point game. There is nothing to go into halftime worried about. In that third quarter, we started slow and they didn’t. The coaches talked to us about when we start the third quarter, starting it faster with more momentum. We started slow and they didn’t,” asserted Williamson. “You know, it’s not even about intensity. It’s about making basketball reads. We became stagnant. They didn’t…”
Pelicans need more rebounding, less standing around
The Pelicans made a run in the fourth quarter but came up short while running out lineups without a traditional center. Jonas Valanciunas logged only 15 minutes, none in the final frame. In related news, New Orleans lost the rebounding battle 51-41 to a Celtics team mostly sticking with a four-out strategy.
Still, McCollum made no excuses.
“We just have to rebound the ball,” McCollum stated. “We had a couple of possessions where we did not get the rebound. We didn’t rotate on the back side…They play a lot of guards with (Kristaps Porzingis) and (Al Horford). We’ve got to be able to match that at times throughout a game and take advantage with some of the talent we have on this team.”
“I thought we did well defensively,” McCollum continued. “Offensively we could be a bit better. You’re not going to win too many games when you score 11 points in a quarter.”
Williamson agreed with McCollum on the rebounding but was not as concerned with White’s buzzer-beating three-pointer to end the first half. Williamson was more worried about the team’s focus, effort, and intensity in such a pivotal, winnable game against the Eastern Conference champions. Regardless of opponent, the debate around going away from Valanciunas will rage on throughout the rest of the season.
Green’s lineup was not the issue, per Williamson, but rather the lack of execution on the court.
“(The Pelicans’ small-ball lineup) allows us to play faster,” Williamson said. “(We can) switch one through five and not have someone to pick on. The small ball unit works for us but that third quarter when they upped their intensity, we should have matched it but we didn’t.”
More must-reads:
- Pair of Celtics score 25 points in series-clinching win over Heat
- James Harden sets dreadful playoff record in Game 5 loss
- The 'Highest career PPG in the playoffs' quiz
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