0:05

Welcome into the New Orleans Pelicans

0:07

Podcast, presented by Sea Gig,

0:10

a podcast dedicated to everything

0:12

you need to know about the squad. Get

0:14

it to Murphy right corner crade he's

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got and even ten they're

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falling all over themselves on the bench

0:23

ten for training, thirty

0:25

two points. The

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New Orleans Pelicans Podcast starts

0:30

right now. Welcome

0:35

to the Pelicans Podcast.

0:38

My name is Joe Cardosi, joined

0:41

by the impermeable mister

0:43

jim Ikenhofer. Because we

0:46

are freting. We are

0:48

on a four game winning streak, we

0:51

are eight in the West. We

0:53

are now at five hundred once

0:56

again, Jimothy, I've just

0:58

got two questions for you. What was

1:00

your favorite moment of the

1:02

four game winning street because there's so many now? And

1:05

why was it the Garrett Temple three?

1:08

It wasn't the Garrett Temple time. I

1:12

think my favorite moment was just seeing

1:15

Trey Murphy defy the rules

1:17

of physics and never hitting the

1:19

rim on any of his three. It's one thing to make

1:21

ten three pointers in a game, but

1:23

it's another to do it where I

1:25

mean did he did? He? Even? None of them like

1:28

rolled around the rim, no rattled in none

1:30

of them I don't think even like scraped up, even

1:32

the haters could be like lucky shot. Yeah, any

1:34

of those. Yeah, I mean it was unbelievable

1:37

that. I mean they I felt like they were gonna have to

1:39

replace the nets if they kept him in the game any

1:41

longer. And he was Yeah, I mean it

1:43

was bananas. I mean good for Trey, second

1:46

youngest player ever in

1:48

the NBA to hit ten threes. Uh,

1:50

he was just absolutely bonkers thirty

1:53

two points. And the other man in the game who

1:55

was looking pretty good, mister Brandon Ingram

1:57

getting thirty two of his own and he had a

1:59

career or high and assists with

2:01

thirteen. By the way, too,

2:04

Trey was ten for twelve from three point, right,

2:06

It's not like he was ten for twenty two and

2:08

took a million and it's like, oh man, he was so high

2:11

volume. I mean, to go ten is

2:14

unbelievable. Yeah, but

2:16

no, you're right, I mean what a performance by both

2:18

of those two guys. I mean, Ingram

2:21

has been just on a tear lately. Not

2:24

sure people will listen to this before

2:26

after this announcement has made, but I think he's

2:28

got a really good chance to be Western Conference Player of

2:30

the week with the performance that he's had

2:33

just across the board, I mean, shooting high percentage

2:35

from the field, great on threes,

2:38

assisting just

2:41

hardly any turnovers, averaging over

2:43

thirty points a game. So it's just

2:45

been such a great stretch for

2:47

him and the team overall. There were

2:49

so many good things that happened on the weekend that

2:51

I'm sure we're going to get into, but the

2:54

best one definitely was the fact

2:56

that the Pelicans, in one of their biggest games

2:58

of the season, probably top two or three

3:00

most important game, played maybe their

3:02

best game of the yes. So to be able to play

3:04

that way, go into La and beat the Clippers

3:06

by twenty one, which is, you know, the Clippers are

3:08

one of the teams that you're a little bit behind in the standings.

3:11

That was kind of a jaw dropping performance

3:13

to play that well. I think that's the thing is, you

3:15

know, we were excited about the wins because we

3:17

needed them before, but we had no illusions

3:20

about the type of competition we were winning

3:22

against. But to make that jump in competition

3:25

versus the Clippers, because when you looked at the schedule,

3:27

this was one of the games I was more worried

3:29

about than some of the others, and to be

3:32

able to come out that strong, to hold

3:34

Kauai, you know, in check

3:36

the whole game. It just seemed like a performance

3:38

where once again you feel confident

3:41

in your Pelicans, no matter the foe. You no

3:43

longer feel like you're just beating up on subpar

3:45

competition. Yes, and I think the combination

3:48

of how much the Pelicans have struggled on the road

3:50

since say the beginning of January,

3:53

as well as you look at this road trip on paper

3:55

and you're like Clippers, Blazers,

3:58

Warriors, Nuggets, this is not the

4:00

trip that you want to go into with your season

4:03

kind of quote unquote at stake,

4:05

with everything kind of hanging in the balance. So for them

4:07

to get that win to start this off, it's

4:10

hard to even measure how huge that was.

4:12

Now, you go into this Portland game, a team

4:14

that has been sitting some of their key guys, and you

4:16

hope that you can get this win as well. So the people

4:18

who were concerned or even

4:21

people that were you know, very negative

4:23

about this road trip, I

4:25

think a lot of them have calmed down consideringly.

4:27

Consider you know, if you thought, man,

4:30

they could go oh in four on this trip or one in three.

4:32

There were a lot of people saying that, And now I think you have

4:34

a really good chance to win multiple games

4:36

on the trip. And it's it's

4:38

crazy how much their fortunes and their

4:40

outlook has changed just in really the last

4:43

three days. Yeah for sure. I mean, and you gotta say,

4:45

Portland's coming off a back to back, as you're saying,

4:47

they they they're sitting some of their guys not sure

4:49

what's going to happen with Damian Lillard. But even

4:52

if they played Damian Lillard, we have beaten the Portland

4:54

Trailblazers with him playing. And

4:57

then you know, you got to go into the Golden State Warriors,

4:59

Didn'tver Nuggets swagger. Then you play the Clippers

5:01

once again. There's just so much room

5:03

to make Hay here. And you know,

5:05

I'm just I'm just feeling cocky again. Man.

5:07

It feels good to now hang

5:10

my head high. I'm doing all kinds of stuff.

5:12

I'm doing the two small gesture to

5:14

my two year old son who was trying to get some raisins.

5:16

I don't worry, I got him the raisins. I did dunk

5:18

on him, though, I'm just kidding. He has some post skills.

5:21

He swatted me when I tried to dunk on him, but he

5:23

got the raisins And I'm just feeling good man,

5:25

and I feel like we can roll into the rest of this

5:27

trip feeling ourselves justifiably

5:30

so once again, Yeah, I mean these

5:33

games are so important, and I mean you reference

5:35

the games next Saturday against the Clippers.

5:37

I feel like the juice

5:39

in the arena, the enthusiasm is going

5:41

to be at a very high level because

5:43

I mean that homestand is also a

5:46

bunch of teams that people are really going

5:48

to be interested to see with Kings,

5:51

Grizzlies, Nicks are the other three games on that home

5:53

stuff and be back. It's it's really

5:55

been a huge reversal from a week or

5:57

so ago after the first game against

5:59

Houston, and I just want to

6:01

see them continue to stay hot and just

6:03

keep rolling up these wins. Oh and one thing

6:06

I did want to talk about because once again,

6:08

I do check Twitter just to see what fire alarms

6:10

are going off. So a lot of people panicked

6:12

because Dary and Cbron got called up

6:14

and they're like, oh, no, is there an injury that we're

6:17

not being told about. Something like that.

6:19

A thing they should know about the G League

6:21

season and our Birmingham squadron

6:24

or seasons. Oh yes, that's a

6:26

very large contributing factor to why

6:29

he's going to be rejoining the team. I

6:31

know this has been in the works for a while. I remember

6:33

hearing a couple weeks back someone

6:35

asked, you know, when when is Cbron

6:37

going to rejoin the team, and the

6:40

response was, they'll be back for the Portland game. So,

6:42

yes, this was all planned, and this is all in

6:44

conjunction with that season getting to a conclusion.

6:47

Yeah, and looks it's it's hard to pay attention to everything.

6:49

I get it. Look, I've been busy myself. I

6:52

understand you got to watch every game, but look, I'm

6:54

a dad, I'm doing a whole bunch of stuff. Jim,

6:56

I know you've you've been watching the games. You've probably

6:58

got more in than me. So, like, I

7:01

just I know that the Western Conference is crazy.

7:03

I know that, right, But you know I'm looking

7:05

at the games and look, look, the Lakers had Lebron,

7:08

so I'm assuming they must have crushed it. Actually,

7:10

they lost their first game back with him to the Bulls

7:13

yesterday. WHOA, Yeah that was surprising.

7:15

Okay, yeah, that was helpful for the Pelicans, so

7:17

that give that a plus sign in

7:19

terms of positive news. All right, well, okay,

7:22

then you got the stacked MAVs, you got the MAVs

7:24

with Luca, you got Kyrie back

7:27

facing Charlotte. Come on. Yeah,

7:29

they actually lost them twice this weekend. They lost

7:32

Friday and Sunday to the Hornets. What

7:35

this is, Bunan is

7:37

how about the Pesky Jazz. I've been seeing stuff

7:40

about the Pesky Jazz. I'm sure they're taking care of business.

7:42

Got to catch am maga. Yeah, they actually

7:44

lost twice as well this weekend. They lost to Milwaukee

7:47

on Friday and then they lost a Sacramento on

7:49

Saturday. So oh and two for them. Ooh

7:52

yeah, boy, who wrote this? I

7:54

don't oh man, I should start paying attention

7:57

here. Oh, I go through my notes here. Well,

7:59

it looks like the West is in more shambles

8:01

than I thought, so maybe we should

8:03

win some of these games. So it looks like we couldn't

8:05

really make some Hey. Yeah, and the hay has

8:07

been made a lot already in the last two

8:10

days, as evidenced by the list

8:13

of stuff that happened. I mean it was we

8:15

would have been happy as heck with just the twenty

8:17

one point win against the Clippers. But honestly,

8:20

like it was kind of stunning

8:22

as the weekend progressed, if you were paying really

8:24

close attention to all the scores, it was kind

8:26

of like, wait, the Mavericks

8:29

just lost at home to the Horns, so they'll beat

8:31

them on Sunday when they play them again in Charlotte.

8:33

No, that didn't happen. And then, like we said

8:35

with the Lakers, Lakers had a really good win

8:37

fright against Okay, see they're on a roll. They're

8:39

getting Lebron back, the streak is going to continue.

8:42

And then the Bulls, Hey give credit to

8:44

the Bulls because that was a big win for a lot

8:46

of other teams in the West. Bulls play the Lakers

8:48

again on Wednesday, so they'll have another chance to to

8:51

get them. So but yeah,

8:53

it was I mean, everybody that was watching

8:56

the scores and tweeting about this weekend

8:59

do we live? I think the only slightly

9:01

negative thing that you could say that happens Sunday,

9:03

and even this is debatable, is that Minnesota

9:06

one, so that the Pelicans didn't move ahead of the

9:08

timber Wolves in the race. They they're

9:10

in eighth, right, now they would be in seventh if yeah, if,

9:13

but Golden State, right,

9:16

So Golden State lost, so you're

9:19

a little closer to Golden State. Now we're

9:21

gonna get into that towards the end of the show.

9:23

That stays more fun to hate, right,

9:25

Yeah, Minnesota has really not accomplished the whole

9:27

heck of a lot of the last twenty

9:29

thirty years of their franchise. So yeah, I mean,

9:32

in a vacuum, I'm always happy to see the t Wolves beat

9:34

the Warriors. Yeah, so it was. It was good.

9:36

I mean a bunch of people actually on Twitter

9:38

asked me before that game started on

9:40

Sunday who should we root for? And

9:42

I said, I said we should root for the

9:44

Warriors. But I said there's no really right, right

9:47

or wrong answer here because either way, whichever team

9:49

loses, it's it's a good thing. So that's

9:51

how I'm gonna look at Yeah, no matter what it does in the standing,

9:54

it's gonna feel good in your tummy, and it sure

9:56

does. Today we had a great mid City

9:58

yacht club watch party with the P twelve

10:00

and our own Aaron Summers was there

10:03

doing let's call it team reporting

10:05

during that game. It was a late when. We're so

10:07

glad that she was able to hang there with Gus kat

10:09

Andel. So let's get her in studio,

10:12

talk about the experience, talk about

10:14

the big win, and just get

10:16

hype. Joining

10:22

us on the Pelicans Podcast,

10:25

fresh off a very successful

10:27

mid city yacht club watch party with

10:30

the Pels twelve, our own team

10:32

reporter Aaron Summers, you're looking bright

10:34

and shiny. I'm guessing you didn't party as hard as Gus.

10:37

Um, you know it was. It was relatively

10:40

team compared to Gus. You know, well,

10:43

we had a great time. It was an amazing

10:45

atmosphere. The place was completely packed,

10:48

not even sounded it just the room that we

10:50

were in. But I was walking around

10:52

and there were tons of Pelicans fans

10:54

behind us in the outdoor area inside.

10:57

I mean they we talked about this. Actually,

10:59

they had the Pelicans game on every TV,

11:01

which is not something that you could have said last

11:04

year. Probably though you were still having to request

11:06

Pelicans games if you went to a sports bar.

11:09

Yeah. Yeah, Jim was that annoying guy at

11:11

the bar. I mean, you're not afraid to be that guy, but

11:13

that's pretty much all the time regardless. Yeah, I've

11:16

done that Pelicans game. I've done that with some

11:18

of my favorite teams in other sports of being that guy,

11:22

and they're like yeah, like, yeah, we can

11:24

definitely put it on. And I'm looking all over the place

11:26

for where the TV is and I realized

11:28

that it's only on in the TV in the men's room. So, but

11:30

who's asking for that? Oh, it's the shirtless

11:32

guy painted orange. But that's just Jim. Jim likes

11:34

the party. And but the Pells twelve

11:37

they actually messaged me on Twitter they said there was one of

11:39

the best watch parties they've had so far. Sounded

11:41

super packed. It was great to talk

11:43

to Rell a little bit on the

11:45

radio from the Pels twelve. And it

11:48

looks like we got another one coming up tomorrow,

11:50

so I guess get ready round two.

11:52

Yeah, I mean, I know it's gonna be a Tuesday night

11:55

and it's going to be at nine o'clock start, but right

11:57

there at like eight, so coming

12:00

out, Yeah, it was incredible

12:02

just how loud the

12:04

bands were in there and they were screaming

12:07

defense on the opening tip. Yes,

12:09

it was unbelievable. Yeah, I was. I was trying

12:12

to say to Aaron and gust

12:14

Jim. I was like you know, if y'all could get some sound

12:16

of them, you know, just kind of be in a little hype.

12:19

It was easy because they were hype the entire

12:21

time. You could just hear it over everything. Yeah.

12:24

Yeah, it sounds like it didn't take long for them

12:26

to get into the game. I mean, how incredible start

12:28

obviously, how yes, like, yeah,

12:30

that's what I was gonna say. I mean, how amazing was

12:32

it to have that be the big Watch

12:34

party and the game go the way it

12:37

I mean it was. It wasn't exactly the way you drowed

12:39

up, like you have all these people that are excited for a game,

12:41

a run to start right, yeah,

12:43

and then and b I just yeah,

12:46

buckets, I don't know. It was perfect start,

12:48

yes, And I think people were like, is this for real?

12:51

R? And they're like, oh my gosh, like try

12:53

to hit another one. And even Graf

12:55

was sort of not able to believe it. He

12:57

was waiting for the bottom to fall out. He was excited.

13:00

I was by myself in studio. Gotta

13:02

say, sounded fun, but

13:05

it was busy. I barely got a chance to pay attention

13:07

to the game because between trying to coordinate

13:09

the stuff at the yacht club and then cutting highlights

13:11

by myself. There were twenty nine highlights

13:14

because there were so many plays and Graph

13:17

was just out of his gourd with

13:19

some of those calls. It was great to hear him excited.

13:21

But even during the game when they would start

13:24

to be a little slippit, she was like, oh, no, the Pelicans

13:26

are gonna cool off. He just couldn't believe that it

13:28

was gonna stay wire to wire right

13:30

then he was like, well they're still up by ten. Yeah, yeah, yeah,

13:32

it's fine, it's fine. So no, it was. It

13:34

was nice to see Graph relaxed and happy

13:37

and a four game win streak. I mean,

13:39

I cannot I know it happened,

13:41

but I cannot remember the last time it happened.

13:43

It feels like a lifetime ago. I don't know

13:45

when the last four game win streak

13:48

was. But I feel like the

13:50

lost at Houston to start

13:52

that weekend road trip,

13:54

yeah, was basically like the

13:57

bottom of the barrel, like the wake up call the team,

14:00

you know, like you go down double

14:02

digits to the that's the worst

14:04

team in the NBA. Yeah,

14:06

And just like Rappy, I

14:08

don't think they came out ready to defend them, like I

14:11

talked about how they were playing a lot of hero ball and

14:13

they're just a lot of their players just trying to get numbers.

14:15

I don't know if the Pelicans were ready for it that first game,

14:17

well, they were just kind of cruising. I think they went in assuming

14:20

like this is the worst team. They were up by double digits

14:22

and then Jabari Smith Junior just

14:25

annihilates them in the last second of the game,

14:27

and I think at that moment they're like, dang,

14:30

maybe without that shot,

14:32

maybe we really need to get stuff together. And Coach

14:35

Green said they had a lot of hard conversations, and

14:38

I think we've seen the fruit of those

14:40

conversations and they've really realized We've

14:42

been hearing the word urgency for a while, but

14:44

they've really started playing like it

14:47

over these past four games. And it's good that we

14:49

had some of these teams to

14:51

kind of gain some confidence against, yeah, with

14:54

you know, Houston at

14:57

the same time making these playoff

15:00

So Yeah, it seems like in

15:02

recent days though, we've learned that the Hornets may

15:04

not be as vulnerable as we

15:06

thought. It was kind of a springboard playing those teams

15:09

that you built up your confidence. A lot of things

15:11

went well I think one of the things that I would point out

15:13

to people who say after they

15:15

had won three games in a row, and they're like, well, they only

15:17

played those three teams. That's true, those

15:19

teams were all struggling. But you don't see everyone

15:21

beat the Hornets by a convincing

15:24

game every single night. You don't see everything killed

15:26

the Spurs every single night. We've been winning

15:28

by an average of twenty one points,

15:30

right. That was That was the part that

15:32

was encouraging to me, not just that they beat those teams,

15:35

but they did so in such dominating

15:37

fashion, and you know, it's

15:40

totally carried over into the game against the Clippers.

15:42

It seemed like you saw the exact same team

15:45

that had just pummeled three of the teams

15:47

that were really struggling and do the

15:49

same thing against the Clippers, even almost to a

15:51

greater degree. One of the things

15:53

that I noticed when I was looking through some

15:55

different numbers since

15:57

the beginning of the four game winning streak, Trey

15:59

Murphy. He's tied for the NBA

16:02

lead in three pointers made per game with Gary

16:04

Trent. Now, it helps that he made ten of them

16:06

in one game. That definitely boost the stats.

16:08

But I mean, like the second youngest player to

16:10

do that. Yeah, yeah, yeah,

16:13

to make to make ten three pointers in the game. Yeah,

16:16

it was. I mean, but I mean, what

16:18

if what are we seeing from him right now in terms

16:21

of just the jump that he's made.

16:23

Um he had on March twelfth

16:25

against Portland, he had forty one points. So

16:28

basically, over a two week span,

16:30

he's had two of the best games of any young

16:32

player in the NBA. You

16:34

know, over this stretch well, and in March

16:36

alone, he's averaging nineteen points

16:38

over fifty percent from the floor. And then

16:40

you add in the threes. He's taken almost

16:43

ten attempts a game and

16:45

hitting those at forty seven percent.

16:47

So you can see in the numbers.

16:50

The confidence is there, his ability to shoot

16:52

is there. It's just about him applying that

16:54

in a game. He's had his

16:56

ups and downs, and you can see him out there sometimes

16:59

when you can hell like his body language, he's

17:01

not feeling it. He does not feeling confident

17:04

in himself. But over the past few weeks

17:06

he's gone out there and he's been aggressive and

17:08

he's told himself like, I'm gonna shoot. I'm gonna

17:10

shoot the ball every time I get it. I'm gonna look

17:12

for a spot. I'm gonna shoot anywhere,

17:14

whether it's a corner pocket three,

17:17

or if it's at the top of the key, or if

17:19

somebody is like on him. You know, he's

17:21

like, I'm just gonna continue to put up shots

17:24

and they're going in. And I think that's just

17:26

continuing to build the confidence for him. And when he

17:28

doesn't have a look from outside,

17:31

he's doing a really good job just going

17:33

to the basket. And I think that's

17:35

also helping kind of just

17:37

change up his game a little bit. Yeah,

17:40

and it's it's hurting defenders, like they don't

17:42

know what to do. Well, that's the thing. I mean, he's such a versatile

17:44

player, Like you almost don't know how to guard

17:46

him because he's deadly from three.

17:49

He'll dunk on you if you close it. I mean, he can

17:51

take it to the rack, he can shoot from

17:53

three. He's such a versatile player. And at

17:55

his side, I mean he's so hard

17:57

to defend. Well. Last year, I know, the

18:00

end of last season, you know, he said, I need to get

18:02

better, you know, with

18:04

the ball, like moving with the ball, dribbling,

18:07

creating and not just catching shoot

18:09

trees. And we've seen that

18:11

part of his game grow and

18:14

everybody that we've talked to me and Brandon Ingram called him

18:16

the best shooter on the team after the game

18:18

on Saturday. You see Jim McCollum

18:21

said that, you know, he's going to be able to achieve

18:23

whatever he wants if he just puts in the

18:25

work. You know, I see him in the gym all the time.

18:27

He's working on different things. He's still

18:29

growing into himself. You know, he grew

18:31

a lot towards the end of his tellege

18:34

right career, and and

18:36

he started out not a lot of people

18:39

really believing that he's going to be an NBA player. He

18:41

because dad didn't think he was going to be an

18:43

NBA player. And then he goes to Rice, transfers

18:45

to Virginia, and I think that

18:47

the ceiling is so high

18:49

for him, and I think we're going to see him

18:51

continue to improve. Yeah, I mean, we

18:54

see a lot of guys in the NBA make a big jump

18:56

in their second year, to the point where sometimes

18:59

people have joke say that the most Improved

19:01

Player award should not even be eligible

19:03

for second year guys because it's like what you expect.

19:06

But I mean the strides that he's made

19:08

right now. I mean you said it, Aaron. I

19:10

think what we've seen the last couple of weeks and even

19:13

throughout the course of the season, but more accelerated

19:15

lately, is just understanding

19:18

that the potential that this guy has is so high.

19:20

And I've said before maybe I'm going

19:23

a little bit on a limb, but when I say this, but I

19:25

think he has the potential to be an All Star someday. Well,

19:27

David Griffin sort of talked about openly

19:29

that Trey Murphy was untouchable and the trade

19:31

talks, so everyone's disappointed in the lack of

19:33

moves we made. A lot of people wanted Trey Murphy

19:36

and there's good reason that he was sought after. And

19:38

you're starting to see now why David Griffin

19:40

said hands off Trey Murphy and those trade talks

19:42

and what a phenomenal pick at that part of the draft.

19:44

He was the fifteenth pick in the draft. I mean, I can't

19:46

say enough about our scouting department, like we

19:48

could talk about that forever, but come

19:51

on, what Herb did on Saturday

19:54

against Kawhi Leonard. We haven't

19:56

even the black guy, by the way, well he

19:58

held him four of sixty twelve

20:00

points like incredible, Yes,

20:02

yes, back to try. Sorry, yeah no,

20:05

I'm just so happy for everyone. It's

20:07

hard to stay folks. I think the

20:09

comment that b I made about

20:11

him being the best shooter on the team, I mean, to

20:13

me, Trey is moving into that

20:16

level of as one of the best shooters in the league.

20:18

Obviously, he has to put more of a resume behind

20:21

it, and that's going to take time. It's not going to happen in the

20:23

first two seasons of a career. But I mean, I

20:25

think he's on his way to being able to do that. And

20:27

just to be so explosive to have

20:29

a forty one point game in this month and

20:32

then have thirty two and to Joe's point

20:35

two one two point basket in the game Saturday

20:38

was an athletic eliop dunk. I think it

20:40

was so I mean, he's just

20:42

showing the different parts of his game,

20:44

and I mean it's when you take

20:46

a step back overall. I mean, I think he's

20:49

he's kind of the epitome of this of just

20:52

with some of the ups and downs the team has had this year, you forget

20:54

sometimes that the future of the team

20:56

is still very high. They've had times

20:58

this year, where man that they might

21:00

not make the play in tournament, or they're struggling,

21:03

or they're really having a tough time with players

21:05

injured, whereas at the beginning of the season they

21:07

were able to get through all of that. But still, you take

21:09

a step back and you see him have these kind of games

21:12

and what Herb's done and what some of the other younger

21:14

guys have done, and you realize, like, yeah,

21:17

they want to achieve as much as they possibly can over

21:20

the next eight games and over this postseason,

21:22

hopefully they get in and make the playoffs.

21:24

But I mean, beyond that the windows, I

21:26

still feel like we there's a lot

21:28

of really good things that are coming down the road because of the personnel

21:30

here. Well, I think Brandon Ingram too. I

21:33

think he's finally found his rhythm

21:35

after being hurt and coming back, and they've

21:38

moved him into more of the point

21:40

guard rule. I mean, he's the one bringing the ball up,

21:42

handling the ball at twenty three assists the past

21:44

two games.

21:47

Yeah, yeah, that's insane. Yeah,

21:49

but he's done such a good job seeing

21:51

the floor, putting his

21:54

teammates in positions to be successful.

21:57

They're hitting the shots. When he gets some of the ball and

22:00

you have so many potential assists that just weren't going

22:02

in before. Now they're making the shots. And

22:04

so I really like the move of having

22:07

bib that the ball handle are more. Yeah.

22:10

I think physically too. I don't think that he's talked

22:12

about this Brandon at all

22:14

in interviews, but I think physically he just looks

22:16

better if you look at if you watch his last like five

22:18

to ten games, trepidation when he first

22:21

came back, it's different. It's a different

22:23

movement he's It just seems like he's quicker. Everything's

22:25

more fluid, Yeah, more confident. So

22:28

Aaron, I know you're you're going to be super busy

22:30

because you've got a million interviews. You've got to

22:32

do yourself. Always busy around here,

22:35

and you're gonna be back at it again. We're gonna

22:37

have another watch party tomorrow night. Not sure

22:39

how long Aaron Summer is going to be able to hang out,

22:41

but go see Gus. He'll be the one doing push

22:43

ups with a beer helmet on. If not Jim,

22:46

So when does that start again? Tell the

22:48

people where they can go and uh and check

22:50

the people out at mid City Yacht Club. The more

22:53

yes, it is Mid City Yacht Club. The

22:55

our pregame show starts at eight thirty

22:58

with the game starting at nine, but we'll

23:00

be there a little bit ahead of time, so at

23:02

least by eight we'll be there

23:04

in the boat house. So it's behind

23:07

the main part of the bar, so just keep

23:09

walking straight and you'll you'll see the little house on

23:11

the side and that's what we'll be set up. Yeah, come

23:13

stay hi. It's always a great time to hang out

23:15

with Aaron Summers and Gus Cat and Gell

23:18

and once again I will be in the

23:20

studio. But it sounds like it'll be a lot

23:22

of fun and I hope you'll enjoy it. Aaron,

23:25

I guess we got another one tonight, another one tomorrow.

23:27

Let's go Pels, huh. I mean let's get some back

23:29

to back wins. Yes, yes, I think the

23:32

Trailblazers are somebody that we should

23:34

easily be able to win against.

23:37

But you just can't take it for granted. So you

23:39

know, gouts start out good again very

23:42

first quarter of the last four, so I got to keep that

23:44

up absolutely, So let's let's hope

23:46

we can keep this hot streak going against the

23:48

Trailblazers. And then once again against the Warriors.

23:50

Thanks again, Aaron big

23:56

thanks to Aaron Summers doing

23:59

Yo persons work out there

24:01

mid City Yacht Club and she will

24:03

be there once again on the Morrow.

24:06

So joiner and join us

24:08

out there. Jim, who

24:11

you know, we talked about a little bit, but

24:13

the state of the West is in flux,

24:16

and you know, I'm gonna call this Monday

24:21

because it feels good once again to look ahead

24:24

at the schedule. I'm feeling feisty,

24:26

Jim, set us up. Yeah,

24:28

Joe. I mean, you know, we've had Western

24:31

Conference Wednesday all season. I feel like we could

24:33

call every day Western Conference something

24:35

now because every single day there's important

24:37

games on the skal Western Conference.

24:40

Yeah, Monday, so on this Western Conference

24:42

Monday, Yeah, I think

24:44

one of the biggest things to look at. I mean, we're

24:47

obviously we're not gonna have a show until Wednesday,

24:49

so the Pelicans will be playing Portland

24:51

Monday night and then Golden State on Tuesday. That

24:53

Golden State game is going to be huge. Now that the

24:55

Warriors lost on Sunday, you're very

24:58

close to them. Yeah, So I

25:00

mean, just one of the bottom line

25:02

things. If the Pelicans can win Monday

25:04

night against the Trailblazers and then beat Golden

25:06

State on Tuesday, the Pelicans will

25:09

be ahead of Golden State in the standings. So yeah,

25:11

that would feel amazing, especially with some of the

25:13

gloom and doom that we experienced not

25:16

that long ago. So I

25:18

mean, that's that's that's huge. I mean, to

25:20

be able to move ahead of Golden

25:22

State would be would be massive.

25:24

Um, it's gonna be hard to beat them at home, I mean, I

25:27

was. I think a lot of people were surprised that the Timberwolves

25:29

beat them, mostly because Golden State has

25:31

been so good in a chase centers at Yeah,

25:33

right, you're never surprised when they lose on the

25:35

road, but when they lose at home, it's just like whoa.

25:38

That was interesting surprising that

25:40

was such a low scoring game too, that both teams I think

25:42

finished under one hundred points. If the

25:44

Pelicans can keep Golden State to that

25:46

level of offense or even close to that,

25:48

I think they have a really good chance to pull

25:50

off a win. Unfortunately, San

25:53

Francisco slash Oakland has not been a

25:55

pleasant place for the Pelicans to visit.

25:57

Unless the whole years has two eyes. Tonight,

26:00

I would be helpful and shut yea. Yeah,

26:02

Willie Green talked about it. He was like, you know, he could

26:04

have easily gone out and sat the rest of that game,

26:07

but he was with one eye, like let's let's go. So

26:09

sure, I hope he's all right and can defend

26:11

and herb will be I mean, it almost goes without

26:13

saying. I mean, his role is going to be so important

26:16

in the Golden State game. It's it's important every

26:18

game. But I mean he might have to chase Clay

26:20

Thompson around, he might get assigned to Steph Curry.

26:22

I mean, there's no bounds to what kind of stuff you

26:25

asked him to do defensively.

26:27

So those are some of the things

26:29

to watch for in that game. But I

26:31

mean, just going forward, you

26:33

know, we talked about this a lot today, just

26:36

how excited everyone is

26:38

right now based on the four game winning streak

26:40

and the dramatic difference in terms

26:43

of where they are in the standings. It wasn't

26:45

that long ago that they were twelve. Yeah, and

26:47

now look at the play in right

26:49

you know, and and now we're sitting eighth.

26:51

We were seventh for a moment, rightly,

26:54

and then we dropped one because of you

26:57

know, games played there, but it just shows

26:59

you it's so oh fluid right now.

27:01

It's we were talking about how crazy the

27:03

West is and it still is. Look that we

27:06

talked about the teams that are that have lost. The

27:08

Lakers didn't look like world beaters with Lebron

27:11

When Austin Reeves is like your third best

27:13

player, that team still doesn't scare me as

27:16

much as the media may want to talk about their chances.

27:18

The MAVs, they have not looked good.

27:20

And oh, by the way, Lucas facing

27:22

a suspension for his sixteenth take right,

27:25

Yeah, And I mean that the situation

27:28

with Dallas is kind of the perfect

27:30

way to kind of look at the play

27:32

in race. I mean, I'm want to look at the

27:34

Pelicans postseason outlook right now

27:37

in two separate elements. The

27:39

first is the play in tournament. And when

27:41

I said that, I mean the minimum

27:45

going back maybe the last couple of weeks

27:47

is you have to at least make the play in tournaments.

27:49

And I think the best part about this weekend from

27:52

that standpoint is that they

27:54

drastically improve their position because

27:56

of Dallas losing twice, which we mentioned earlier

27:59

in Utah twice, so Portland

28:01

right now is in thirteenth place. I think they

28:04

I want to say a lot of people have ruled them out, but I feel like

28:06

they've themselves have ruled themselves out right

28:08

basically the way that they've handled their lineups and

28:10

that kind of thing. That doesn't mean that in one game

28:12

that you you're definitely going to beat them, or that you can just

28:14

walk over them. And hopefully they learned that

28:16

lesson from that first Houston game. Sure now

28:19

they're they're going to be prepared, right because,

28:21

yeah, especially if Lillard

28:23

plays, and that's a big if, you

28:25

know, you can never count them out just because he's

28:27

got that dog in them all right. But

28:30

you know, I do feel like there's

28:32

no team on the schedule the Nuggets still, I gotta

28:34

say, Nuggets still scare me a little

28:37

tough, Yeah, but you know, I don't

28:39

feel like, oh, no, chalk up

28:41

a loss looking at the schedule anymore, right

28:44

And I think if the Pelicans can win, can

28:46

strain together even more wins, the

28:49

threat of not finishing in the top ten

28:51

is going to completely dissolve. It's

28:53

starting to head that way right now, where

28:55

I think the teams that are above Dallas

28:57

and eleventh in Utah and twelfth are starting to

28:59

have a at least a little bit of a cushion. Pelicans

29:03

probably are going to have the tiebreaker on Dallas. So that's

29:05

another game that you add. If you can get two,

29:07

three, four games ahead of them, you're going to put them

29:10

totally too far in the rear view mirror for them to catch

29:12

you. So so that's the first part is get

29:14

into the play in tournament. Now. The second part,

29:17

on the upper side of the standings

29:19

is this might sound crazy,

29:22

and I almost was hesitating to tweet

29:24

this Sunday night, but they

29:26

they're not that far from the top six now. So

29:29

like what you thought. You may have thought, oh

29:31

my gosh, they might not even make the play in tournament.

29:33

They might finish a level thinking about cutting my hair that Alfred

29:35

Payton here might yes,

29:37

the Alfred Payton. He

29:40

went from that too. Now they

29:42

have they legitimately could finish in the top

29:44

six. And this might

29:46

seem astounding, but I mean they're in a position

29:48

now where on April ninth that they could

29:50

just be in the playoffs and avoid the play in tournament.

29:53

Now, granted, they're going to have to pull off

29:55

some big wins. To do that, they might have to beat

29:57

Golden State head to head Tuesday. They

29:59

might have to, you know, some combination

30:01

of Denver, Memphis, Sacramento, which are the three

30:03

best teams in the West right now, but um,

30:06

they're right there and the win Saturday.

30:09

The Clippers right now are fifth. The Clippers

30:12

are not far that far ahead of you. You play them

30:14

again, if you beat them at home, that's

30:16

another team that you could put behind you. So the

30:19

list of teams that the Pelicans

30:21

could now realistically say

30:23

we have a reasonable chance of finishing ahead

30:26

of them or catching them, it just seems

30:28

like it keeps increasing. And so

30:30

this that's where this four game stretch has

30:32

been so valuable. Another thing too,

30:34

I don't want to go too long on this, but there are only two

30:37

games behind Phoenix. Phoenix is in fourth place. Can

30:39

you imagine how much people's minds would be blown

30:41

if the Pelicans ended up in fourth place.

30:44

That might be a little bit of a pipe dream, and it might be a little

30:46

bit unruistic, but it's good and it's

30:49

on the table. That's the part that is

30:51

just the fact that you can look

30:53

at that as a reasonable not

30:56

pie in the sky being a complete

30:58

you know, a lunatic. Yes, it's it's

31:01

really really attainable, especially

31:03

as the Pelicans are getting healthier. A

31:05

lot of these teams, like, look, you

31:08

never want injuries to happen, but when they

31:10

happen for the Pelicans in the

31:12

long run may have accidentally been beneficial.

31:14

You're starting to get healthy when other teams are getting

31:16

worn down. And I don't think any

31:18

team wants to see a fully healthy Pelicans,

31:21

especially with some of the way they've been looking recently,

31:23

with Bi looking like the BI we know

31:25

and love, a Trey Murphy coming on. Yeah,

31:29

boy, I think we can have some fun. Jim, Yeah,

31:31

I mean, we'd love to see a fully loaded

31:33

team. But I mean in the short term, the great Jews

31:35

is that what they do have on the court right now

31:38

is playing at a really high level. Last

31:42

thing, too, I'll mention about the West Race

31:44

in the whole situation is again there's

31:46

a bunch of games coming up on the scoreboard where

31:48

two teams that the Pelicans

31:50

are competing with are playing each other, and so something positive

31:53

is going to happen. For example, Monday night, Phoenix plays

31:55

Utah. Either Phoenix loses that game and you

31:57

get closer to the Suns or Utah

31:59

loses that game and you improve your

32:01

position as far as definitely finishing ahead

32:04

of the Jazz. We want Utah out of the mix because

32:06

the Pelicans went own three against them. We don't want them

32:08

in any ties that kind of thing. So, but

32:10

there's a bunch of games. Wednesday, Minnesota

32:12

plays Phoenix, same situation. One

32:14

of those teams has to lose. You have a

32:16

great chance to gain more ground if

32:19

the Pelicans can win these next two nights.

32:21

I mean, the conversation that we're gonna have on

32:23

Wednesday is going to be even more excited

32:26

and optimistic and enthusiastic about

32:28

the possibility. Yeah, we're gonna have to do the whole

32:30

podcast, just hooting the whole time,

32:32

just stopping around the podcast studio

32:35

having a party. But it's possible. Look,

32:37

Portland's coming off a back to back and

32:40

they lost that one, so you never

32:42

know what their energy level is going to be.

32:45

And then I think we've seen that Golden State

32:47

can be had. I'm ready to roll,

32:49

man, Jim. It's been a fun streak.

32:52

So let's go Pels. Let's keep

32:54

the good times going. We want to talk

32:56

to you next podcast in an

32:58

absolute fervor, so

33:01

until then, we will be talking to you

33:03

once again. On Wednesday, go check

33:06

out that mid City Yacht Club watch party

33:08

sponsored by Corona. Our own Gustcat

33:10

and Gal will be there. Aaron Summers will

33:12

be there. You can be there too,

33:15

and you can be part of the radio broadcast.

33:17

Show up to find out how. We

33:19

will talk to you once again on the Pelicans

33:21

podcast on Wednesday,

33:24

and until then, thanks

33:30

for listening to the New Orleans Pelicans

33:32

podcast presented by seat

33:34

Geek. Join us three times per week

33:37

on pelicans dot com, the Pelicans

33:39

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33:41

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33:43

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