New Orleans Pelicans Falling Apart In Clutch Moments Once Again This Season

The New Orleans Pelicans changed the coaching staff this offseason, but they haven't been able to change their results on the court. The same issues in the clutch have held the team back at the start of this season.

The Pelicans have begun this season 0-3, but are only a few possessions away from being 3-0. That fact shouldn't have the team feeling good about being so close. It should (and likely does) leave them extremely frustrated that they haven't been able to execute down the stretch.

Among all of the issues the team had last year, poor performance in the clutch was a major one. The NBA describes "clutch moments" as possessions in the final five minutes when the score is within five points. Last year, New Orleans ranked No. 29 in the NBA with a -20.3 net rating in clutch moments and went 12-30 in qualifying games.

It's obviously a super small sample size over 17 minutes of action, but they have a -19.1 net rating so far. They have a -2.4 net rating overall, which ranks around the middle of the league and is far better than last year's -4.4, but that doesn't matter because of how poor they have been down the stretch.

The Pelicans have yet to hit a three in the clutch this season and are shooting just 37.9% from the field.

New Orleans simply doesn't seem to have a good plan for what happens down the stretch of games. Trey Murphy has had one shot attempt over those 17 minutes. It has turned into the Zion Williamson and Dejounte Murray show, and both have played poorly.

Murray is shooting 3-of-11 in those moments and has stopped really sharing the ball. His shot selection and decision making hasn't been good enough. Williamson is 3-of-7 from the field and has a whopping four turnovers already.

It is just impossible to win when the two players who are being trusted, or at least taking the lead, have seen their performance dip so hard. Both Williamson and Murray have been solid outside of these minutes.

When the Pelicans were dominating against the Denver Nuggets, they were a team that was sharing the ball. That has stopped happening. There must be better communication between players and finding the open man, rather than looking to play hero ball.  

Jamahl Mosley has said that he is evaluating this game in five-game bunches before making major decisions. They've already gotten a great look at their clutch performance so far this season, and it is clear something has to change. They at least have a few games to reset and evaluate before taking the court again on Wednesday.