Pelicans focused on opportunity that remains in elimination game

METAIRIE – The New Orleans Pelicans returned to the practice floor Thursday to prepare for what could be their last game of the season.

They have failed twice in the last week to take advantage of an opportunity to earn a playoff berth. A 124-108 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday afternoon prevented them from clinching the No. 6 spot.

A 110-106 loss to the Lakers on Tuesday night prevented them from clinching the No. 7 spot.

All that’s left to complete the Western Conference playoff field is for someone to claim the No. 8 and final spot. That position will go to the winner of the elimination game between the Pelicans and the Sacramento Kings at approximately 8:30 p.m. Friday in the Smoothie King Center, the site of the consecutive losses to L.A.

“We’re extremely excited about the opportunity we’ve given ourselves,” head coach Willie Green said after practice.

The preparation took place amid the reality that leading scorer Zion Williamson won’t be available as New Orleans tries to extend its season and face top-seeded Oklahoma City in the first round of the playoffs.

“It’s tough being without one of our best players for the biggest game of the year,” guard Jose Alvarado said. “We’ve got to take care of business until he comes back.”

Williamson won’t be back this season unless the Pelicans win Friday and keep winning. The hamstring injury that he suffered late in Tuesday’s loss won’t be re-evaluated for “approximately two weeks.”

On Thursday, Williamson could be seen in the training room doing exercises and receiving treatment while his teammates did individual drills.

“I don’t care about anything but him,” center Larry Nance said. “It’s a shame. My heart hurts for him.

“He’s had an unbelievable year. This happening at this time is not going to change that. It’s been a success. He was healthy, he played in (71) games. Hopefully we’ll see him again.”

Green said the timeline for Williamson’s absence “was tough news for sure,” adding that the team is “being supportive and encouraging to him.”

The Pelicans can draw on experience gained by playing without Williamson frequently throughout his career.

“We can’t say we haven’t been through this before,” Nance said. “We’ve won big games without him.”

Most relevant to the current situation is that two years ago, when Williamson was sidelined for the entire season, New Orleans won consecutive play-in elimination games and battled top-seeded Phoenix for six games in the first round of the playoffs.

“That experience can help us now,” Green said. “My message to the team was that we’ve faced adversity before and again it’s staring us in the eyes. We have a choice. We can look at this as an obstacle or we can look at it as an opportunity.”

The Pelicans are counting on second-leading scorer Brandon Ingram, who led the team through its late-season success two years ago, to regain that form Friday after having limited effectiveness while playing 23 and 25 minutes in the games against the Lakers in his return from a 12-game absence due to a hyper-extended knee.

Green said Ingram, who declined to speak with reporters after practice, “had a great practice today” as he continued to “knock off the rust.”

“He was sharp,” Green added. “He’s looking forward to getting back on the floor and getting after it.”

Nance predicted that Ingram “is going to be huge for us.”

“We’ve seen it time and time again,” he added.

The Pelicans have won all five games against Sacramento this season and the average score has been 128-109.

“There’s a difference between cocky and confident,” Nance said. “We’ve earned the right to be confident, but we’re not cocky. We recognize where we’re at. We just lost two games to the Lakers.

“This is not going to be like the first five. It’s going to be that much more intense.”

Green said the sixth meeting “will be a different game.”

“The sixth one will be the hardest one,” he added. “I have a ton of confidence in this group. We’ve seen this before. We’ve been in this type of game before. We’re well aware of what lies ahead.”

Alvarado summed it up this way: “They’re tired of us beating them. We can’t be tired of beating them.”