Pelicans fall at Timberwolves, slip to 9th seed

The odds, at least on the surface, appeared to be with the Pelicans.

First, New Orleans was off Saturday while the Timberwolves played, forcing a back-to-back.

Then, the T-Wolves are not a good home team, only 21-19 at home entering the game.

Third, the bickering among the T-Wolves was a troubling sign, with Jaden McDaniels injuring his right hand when he punched a wall in frustration and with Rudy Gobert throwing a punch at teammate Kyle Anderson in the second quarter. McDaniels missed the rest of the game while Gobert was dismissed for the reminder of the game by his coach.

It all happened in the second quarter, when the Pelicans were seemingly in control of the game.

Rather than have a negative impact, the issues seemed to be a rallying point for Minnesota.

New Orleans had a 14-point lead.

That lead disappeared.

So, too, did the clear shot at the eighth seed in the play-in tournament.

The Timberwolves rallied from an eight-point halftime deficit to defeat New Orleans 113-108.

That left the two teams tied at 42-40 on the season but with the win, Minnesota won the season series 2-1 to earn the eighth-seed.

It happened despite Brandon Ingram going off, scoring 41 points with 12 rebounds and seven assists.

CJ McCollum had 23 points and Trey Murphy III had 20 points.

After a poor first half, McCollum rallied in the second half but down the stretch, he struggled mightily with the game on the line.

Trailing by a point with 3:17 to play, McCollum fouled Taurean Prince, who made both free throws for a 105-102 lead.

Trailing by a point with 1:43 to play, McCollum missed a pull-up jumper then committed another foul, this time on Mike Conley, who split a pair of free throws to make it 106-104.

Then, after he came up with a steal, he did not recognize defensive pressure from Anthony Edwards, who stole it from McCollum, a costly turnover under a minute to play which resulted in a layup for Edwards with McCollum adding insult to injury by fouling Edwards, who completed the three-point play to give Minnesota a 109-104 lead with 57.1 seconds left.

With 47.1 seconds remaining, McCollum was fouled by Edwards and he missed both free throws and with 11.1 seconds left, McCollum missed a layup.

It was a nightmarish finish for a good player and solid guy and leader and it came at a bad time for New Orleans.

Willie Green is a good young coach who has done a good job with the Pelicans.

Green decided to shorten his rotation, going with just eight players, eliminating Dyson Daniels from the mix with so much on the line.

The three-man bench of Larry Nance Jr., Josh Richardson and Naji Marshall came up well short of what Green needed to get an important win. The three combined for just eight points on 3 of 10 shooting with just seven rebounds combined.

By comparison, Minnesota reserves scored 38 points.

The lack of depth was telling and decisive.

Green opted to play Nance 17 minutes and he had just two points and one rebound.

When he took Nance out in the fourth quarter, instead of going back to starting center Jonas Valanciunas, Green went small with Richardson.

Suffice it to say that it did not work out.

Richardson scored two points in 29 minutes.

As for Valanciunas, he scored 11 points and pulled down 18 rebounds in just 22 minutes.

Yes, Valanciunas can struggle on the defensive end, particularly with agile centers and those who can shoot from the perimeter.

Yes, Valanciunas is a real asset on the offensive end and on the boards.

He is among the league-leaders in double-doubles. The numbers do not lie.

It was puzzling not to see him in the fourth quarter at all. The Pelicans were plus seven with Valanciunas on the floor. They were minus nine with Nance Jr. and minus five with Richardson.

Additionally, Green has not trusted Willy Hernangomez or Jaxson Hayes in the reserve center role so they were not options.

Another big fail of the Pelicans was the total lack of a perimeter game.

New Orleans was just 3 of 21 from three-point range (14.3 percent) and New Orleans was outscored 39-9 from distance, too much of a deficit to overcome.

That included McCollum going 0 for 5.

With the loss, New Orleans made it tougher on itself, landing in ninth place.

The result is hosting a do-or-die play-in game against Oklahoma City Wednesday night. The winner will advance to play on the road to meet the loser of the Minnesota-Lakers game for the eighth seed. The winner of that game gets a first-round playoff series against top-seeded Denver.

It has been a roller coaster of a season for the Pelicans, with huge highs and deep lows, both in terms of winning and losing streaks and in terms of key injuries to key players.

It is nice to see the Pelicans in the postseason with a six-game improvement over last season.

Based on what we have seen and heard, do not expect Zion Williamson or Jose Alvarado back for any play-in games.

The current roster is what it is.