Kristian Winfield: Knicks win 7th straight in victory over Pelicans
NEW YORK — Not all games against losing teams are created equal. Because some losing teams are better than the sum of their win-loss records, some losing teams are a turn of events away from competing for a playoff spot, if not something greater. There may not be a team embodying the discrepancy between record and reality more than the New Orleans Pelicans, home base for the ever-so polarizing talent that is Zion Williamson, plus a hodgepodge of rangy, versatile athletes at all five positions.
A group that walked into Madison Square Garden with a 25-47 record, good for 11th in the Western Conference, well out of reach of the West’s 10th and final play-in tournament spot, but a team that, on the right night, can look like next year’s next best thing. A team that, on the right night, can beat the New York Knicks. Tuesday night at MSG was nearly the right night–before the Knicks ran away with a 121-116 victory.
The Knicks have now won seven games in a row, and with a Boston Celtics loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday, they will have sole ownership of the Eastern Conference’s No. 2 seed. “Just focus on playing as best we can, control what we can control,” team captain Jalen Brunson said in his walk-off interview on Tuesday.
“That’s what’s most important to us right now. ” For all intents and purposes, the NBA season in New Orleans is over, and there is more incentive for the Pelicans to lose games (even though Atlanta Hawks own swap rights on their 2026 first-round pick via the Dejounte Murray trade) than to win, but the players suiting up in the Pelicans red and blue still have pride —and still have a lot to show their front offices and rival organizations with a season teetering on completion with 10 games remaining on the schedule. This is why you can’t judge a team by the number of wins and losses they have on their record — even more so when they take the floors of the World’s Most Famous Arena for their only New York trip of the season.
“[The Pelicans are] athletic ... Zion is on another level, in terms of his drives to the rim. Physically, athletically, extremely powerful.
Continue to the original source for the full article.