Pelicans surge brings excitement to the Smoothie King Center

METAIRIE – The New Orleans Pelicans have clinched a spot in the Western Conference play-in tournament.

They’re on the verge of earning the right to play that game, which will be against the San Antonio Spurs at 8:30 p.m. next Wednesday, inside the Smoothie King Center.

“We want that game here in New Orleans,” center Willy Hernangomez said after contributing 17 points and 14 rebounds during a 127-94 victory against the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday night in the Smoothie King Center.

The team’s magic number for securing that home game next week is one, meaning one New Orleans win or one San Antonio loss. If the ninth-place Pelicans win at Memphis or the 10^th-place Spurs lose at home to Golden State, New Orleans will clinch home-court on Saturday.

If neither of those games goes the Pelicans’ way, they’ll have two more opportunities Sunday, when they end the regular season against Golden State in the Smoothie King Center and San Antonio visits Dallas.

“It’s so fun to play right now,” Hernangomez said “With the fans it feels like we have another player with us. Hopefully, we can win one more game or San Antonio loses one, so we can have the game. We need everybody to be here the first game because we’re trying to get to the playoffs, so step by step, everybody’s got to help each other to make it happen.”

The play-in game is an elimination game, meaning the loser sees their season end and the winner advances to play at the loser of the other Western play-in game between No. 7 Minnesota and the No. 8 Los Angeles Clippers in another elimination game to determine the final playoff spot in the conference.

“It’s extremely exciting,” first-year head coach Willie Green said after practice Friday. “It’s exciting for us – our organization, our players. It’s exciting for our fans. I think it’s just fun basketball to watch and we try to put a team on the floor that represents the city well.”

Green played for the New Orleans Hornets in the 2010-11 season, which ended with a 4-2 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in a first-round series that included three games in the Smoothie King Center.

So Green has experienced post-season basketball in New Orleans as a member of a New Orleans NBA team.

Pelicans rookie Trey Murphy III got a taste of what that might be like when the largest crowd of the season – and the largest since the team’s last playoff appearance in 2018 (18,516) – turned out for a pivotal game against the Lakers on March 27.

“The Lakers game had an atmosphere I don’t think I’ve ever experienced before,” Murphy said. “Me going to a small school at Rice for two years (2018-20) and going to Virginia for the COVID year (2020-21) I don’t think I’ve ever experienced real crowds like that.”

The atmosphere for that game against the Lakers, in which Murphy helped trigger a comeback from a 23-point deficit that produced a 116-108 New Orleans victory from which L.A. never recovered, was playoff-like.

The same has been true for the last few home games, including Thursday’s victory even though the crowd was smaller (12,432) than the one for the Lakers game.

In general through, the crowds have been bigger and louder in the last few weeks than were earlier in the season.

“We’re winning, so they’re coming out,” Murphy said. “It’s a very simple formula: you win and it brings people out.”

The game against Golden State on Sunday might be essentially meaningless – if the Pelicans clinch homecourt Saturday – or it could be crucial to whether New Orleans hosts at least one more basketball game after Sunday.

“It’s beautiful,” Murphy said of the team’s recent success and the accompanying surge in excitement. “It just shows you what’s coming in the future. We’re starting a winning program and a winning organization.

“And I’m going to let you know now – if you aren’t on the bandwagon, you better jump behind it because it’s going to get full.”