Setback against Magic all too familiar sign of inconsistency for Pelicans

NEW ORLEANS — Consistency.

For the New Orleans Pelicans, it has been harder to find than a capable small forward over the last three seasons.

After trouncing the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday night, the Pelicans should have been able to move above .500 for the first time since the end of the 2014-15 season. But, a lackluster effort on both ends of the court led to a 115-99 loss to the Orlando Magic.

After holding a 64-60 lead at the break, New Orleans was outscored 55-35 in the second half.

“You have to play the right way and you have to play the right way for 48 minutes,” said Pelicans Head Coach Alvin Gentry. “You can’t do it for 24. I thought we got away from everything that we’ve done the last few games from the standpoint of ball movement, rebounding, (and) moving the basketball; we didn’t do any of that in the second half. Against a team that’s a very good offensive team, that’s the result that you’ll get.”

Anthony Davis led the Pelicans with a season-high 39 points. DeMarcus Cousins, after being named Western Conference Player of the Week, turned in his worst performance of the season. Cousins scored a season-low 12 points (5-14 shooting), committed six turnovers, had five fouls, and seemed to be playing indifferent defense.

The Pelicans’ backcourt wasn’t much better. After combining for 53 points against the Cavs, Jrue Holiday and E’Twaun Moore scored a total of 19 points, just five more than their Orlando counterparts.

The Pelicans also committed a season-high 22 turnovers, which led to 25 points for the Magic.

“That just can’t happen, especially against a team like that, that’s really good in transition,” said Holiday, who had a season-high six turnovers. “Just gotta be better at taking care of the ball, attention to detail, and I will personally get better.”

In short, it was the worst performance of the young season for the Pelicans. It also cost the team their first opportunity to go above .500 since the end of the 2014-15 season.

Gentry pointed the finger squarely at the team’s defensive effort as the primary factor for the defeat.

“We sucked,” he said succintly.

Orlando shot nearly 51 percent from the floor and made 16 of its 34 three point attempts, outscoring the Pelicans by 27 points from distance. Reserve forward Marreese Speights came off the bench to make six threes in just 22 minutes, four coming during a 17-5 Magic run to open the fourth quarter.

“Every game I feel like I’m hot…My teammates did a great job of finding me for open shots,” said Speights who finished with 18 points. “When they find me for open shots I’ve got to knock them down.”

“They made us pay in the second half with all of the open threes,” said Davis. “We missed some shots and the offense let down our defense, but we didn’t really get back on defense.”

After ranking ninth in defensive rating last season, the Pelicans have had a significant drop off this year. New Orleans is 20th in the NBA in that category and 24th in points allowed at 109.7 points per game.

In the team’s four losses, the Pels have allowed more than 112 points per contest and have been defeated by an average margin of 11.5 points.

“Last year…We’re very proud of how much effort we put on the defensive end even when thingsweren’t going well on offense,” said Holiday. “But, games like that we just have to grind it out,and it has to be defensively.”

The Pelicans remain one of the NBA’s great mysteries. They are a team with three of the top 50 players in the NBA, including the best power forward and center in the game. Yet, there are still glaring holes in the roster. The Pelicans are thin at the forward position behind Davis and Cousins, and the bench remains inconsistent at best.

Next up for the Pelicans are the Minnesota Timberwolves, which feature three dynamic young talents in Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins, and Jimmy Butler. It will be another defensive challenge for a team reeling in that area. That game is followed by a four-game road trip, where the Pelicans will only face one team with a winning record.

The opportunity is there for the team to return to the Smoothie King Center in just under two weeks with momentum and a winning record. But for that to happen they will have to discover that elusive consistency that they have been unable to locate for far too long.