The New Orleans Pelicans have an achille's heel - the third quarter. Every game, it feels like looming threat coming out of the locker rooms. The Pelicans have won just two third quarters all season long, which makes it incredibly hard to win games.
Whether it's just garbage time minutes or not, they've actually been a solid fourth quarter team. Their horrid performances in the third frames makes that a moot point, though.
Here are some standout stats that show that it's not just an eye test thing or a mirage, New Orleans just flat out struggles after the half:
Net Rating
-12.5 for whole game
-30.1 in third quarters (second-worst in NBA)
Rebound %
67.8% for whole game
48.7% in third quarters
eFG%
50.5% for whole game
43.8% in third quarters (worst in NBA)
Turnover %
15.5% for whole game
17.7% in third quarters
Assist %
58.3% for whole game
56.2% in third quarters
Assist to Turnover Ratio
1.45 for whole game
1.12 in third quarters (worst in NBA)
While the Pelicans clearly aren't an elite team this season, they also have the capacity to perform better than they have to this point. There is more talent on this roster than the record would suggest.
Perhaps it's a mental thing at this point. A candid response about the third-quarter struggles from point guard Jose Alvarado suggests that it could be a real concern:
“We’re still trying to figure that stuff out, man. We suck, we suck in that third quarter. We need to figure something out, or it’s going to continue happening. At this point, we gotta look at ourselves in the mirror and try to you out there and be aggressive and do something different. Every third quarter is the same result. We shoot ourselves in the foot no matter what, good teams or bad teams.”
Alvarado gave that response after the loss to the Golden State Warriors. Nothing has changed in the week since that game took place.
It's not a complete lost cause, though, as New Orleans has shown the ability to change course on this type of thing already this season.
They had horrid first quarters against the Warriors and against the Oklahoma City Thunder, giving up at least 44 points to each. Interim coach James Borrego pointed it as an aggression and internal issue. Since then, they've performed much better to start games.
Borrego and the squad will have to find an answer quickly as their season is starting to slip away, partly thanks to their poor performance in the third quarter.