Yes the Spurs won tonight, but the game went to the final minute, a credit to the play of the Pelicans. After a fairly even first half, in which both teams struggled to score consistently, the Spurs pulled away from the Pelicans, outscoring New Orleans by 11. Falling behind as many as 18, the Pelicans never gave up, going on small runs, bringing it as close at 6 with under 2 minutes, but turnovers and an inability to execute doomed the group of misfits. I guess you could say they went down swinging.

As in the title, this marks the best home-start to a season in NBA histroy, 38-0. The loss keeps the Pelicans on the heels of Minnesota, who also lost tonight. 2 wins still separate the 2. The Knicks and Kings also look to remain more than 2 wins away from the Pels.

The final stretch of the season takes a strange turn, as the Pelicans have the easiest schedule they could possibly have. They face all 5 teams with worse records and only 1 playoff team. But the Pelicans last game of the season is against the Minnesota Timberwolves. If the Pelicans manage to gain just 1 win on Minnesota AND lose to the them on the final day, they would have the same record and have split the season series 2-2. Just so you know, in the event that teams finish with the same record, each tied team receives the average of the total number of combinations for the positions that they occupy.

It is interesting though, as everyone has pulled the plug on the season, it just so happens injuries has made it so that the players actually playing have every incentive to play to the best of their abilities: a chance, a paycheck. If we are talking about motivation, will the players on the court for the Pelicans have more motivation to win than some of the teams they face? Hard to say given the make up of their remaining schedule, but it will be interesting to see the impact it will have on the Pelicans’ draft pick.

Next up the Denver Nuggets come to New Orleans, tomorrow night. Tip off is for 7CT. Tune in and Flock Up.