Well it wasn’t pretty at times, but the Pels battled down the wire for a win against the Washington Wizards in the Smoothie King Center, their first against Washington since 2011. It is hard to tell with this team. They did not play a sustainable style of basketball. They scrapped by hitting shots they would not normally make. Hell Evans had a career night from 3, he made 5 of 6! The whole team was hot from deep, making a franchise best 16 (and on 27 attempts). The fact that they shot that well and were still just neck and neck down the stretch tells you all you need to know about the defensive progress. Washington shot over 50% on the night.

The Pelicans did the little things. They came out of the half slow, and came out to start the 4th slow, but the energy was there. They won the rebound battle (thank the almighty). They didn’t move the ball much, with only 21 assists on 39 makes, but fortunately the whole team was hot tonight.

It came down to whether the Pels could get a stop, up 1 with 30 seconds left. John Wall helped them out by settling for an early midrange jumper. Gordon made his first two FT’s of the night to put the Pels up 106-103 while the crowd went wild, wild wild. Wild, wild, wild. But a John Wall layup on a defensive breakdown made it a rougher finish than it should have been. In the end it made no difference. A win is a win, that is the most important thing right now.

Next up are the Bulls tomorrow night in Chicago! Can the Pels go on a little win streak here? We’ll see, tune in and Flock Up!