The Pelicans are a band of misfits coalescing into a beautiful juggernaut

At the 7:05 mark of the fourth quarter of New Orleans’ Game 3 beatdown, Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday checked out of the game. They never came back in.

By then, the damage was done, but it’s worth taking a step back. It’s wild to imagine that the Pelicans are on the verge of sweeping a Portland Trail Blazers’ team that was having a banner year in a packed Western Conference. The two teams were only separated by a game in the standings, but many miles in terms of reputation.

The Blazers have made the playoffs every year since the 2013-14 season. The Pelicans haven’t been since sneaking into the No. 8 seed in 2014-15. The last time New Orleans sniffed the playoffs before that was in 2010-11, when they lost to the Lakers in six games in Chris Paul’s final season. Davis hadn’t won a playoff game in his career until this series.

Yet here they are, on the verge of a rematch with the Warriors. It’s hard to comprehend.

The major pivot point of this Pelicans’ season came after a moment that should have derailed it. When DeMarcus Cousins went down before the All-Star break with a torn Achilles, it seemed like a catastrophe that would again plunge the team back into their previous existence of potential without the success. It looked like a familiar story.

This time, it wasn’t to be. Davis stepped his game up to a higher level to compensate for Cousins’ absence, Holiday proved himself as a two-way star, and the team rallied to make the playoffs.

But it’d be a mistake to exclude Cousins from the story of this transformation. It made me so happy when Davis wore Cousins’ jersey during the all-star game. It underscored the different reality for the both of them.

Davis had spent his whole career waiting for that other superstar who could take some off the load off of his shoulders. Meanwhile, Cousins never felt wanted or appreciated during his time with the Kings.

All of a sudden, there they were, both happy and fulfilled. Batman and Robin, they never decided who was who. When the two didn’t work well in the half season after Cousins was traded, there was no panic. Then in the first half of this season, the two seemed to be unstoppable, filling the stat sheet in comical ways, as if they were competing with each other.

Then the injury came, but it didn’t seem like the end. Even if the season was a failure, Davis and Cousins were going to build a new and better culture for the Pelicans. There was a foundation that could survive, and even thrive, in Cousins’ absence.

Even if Cousins wasn’t playing, he was doing his part. When Davis was injured against the Clippers back in early March, he left the game late in the first half. He could have sat the rest of the game out, as he had done many times in his career when hurt, but Cousins encouraged him to go back in and lead the team:

”DeMarcus told me at halftime, ‘If you won’t go back in, let me get your Achilles,’” Davis said at the time.

It was also Cousins who recruited Rajon Rondo to the Pelicans. At this point, Rondo had been unceremoniously dumped by the Bulls. He seemed on this way out of the league, not only because his skills seemed diminished, but also because he wasn’t worth the trouble of dealing with his infamous divisive attitude anymore. But Cousins, who also wore the label of “troublemaker,” believed in Rondo the way the Pelicans believed in him.

It was also the Cousins’ injury that prompted the trade for Nikola Mirotic. Mirotic was never really became the player that the Bulls had envisioned and was no longer in the team’s long-term plans. He lost his starting spot to rookie Lauri Markkanen and had his face broken by Bobby Portis. The Pelicans — and the Cousins’ injury — gave him the space to show that he was still capable of being a good player. Even when he struggled initially, the stood behind him.

Then there’s Holiday, who signed like what seemed like an undeserved five-year, $126 million deal with the Pelicans in the summer. Last season, he took an indefinite leave of absence because his wife, Lauren Holiday, was diagnosed with a brain tumor while she was pregnant with their daughter. He also had a concerning injury history. Still, the Pelicans showed faith in his ability as a two-way player and a perfect fit for the team that they were building. Overlooked by some, downgraded by others, but right for New Orleans, much like Cousins, Rondo, and Mirotic.

On the surface, the Pelicans took a once-in-a-generation talent who was used to carrying his team and physically breaking down, and surrounded him with the league’s most divisive big-name player, an old and divisive point guard who was cast aside by one of the worst teams in the league, a power forward who lost his place in his previous team to a rookie, and a guard whose talent was apparent, but seemed like he was stagnating. But seen another way, the Pelicans surrounded Davis with a group of talented players with something to prove, then gave them the freedom to be themselves and the belief they could prove the limited perceptions that the world had of them wrong. Even without Cousins — and perhaps especially without Cousins — the mix was perfect to salvage the rest of the season and make a statement in the playoffs.

Now, they have a swagger to them. Before Game 1, Davis said that just being in the playoffs wasn’t enough: “I’ve been in before and nobody remembers that, nobody cares about that. Our goal is to get in and make some noise.” After the second game and another win, Holiday said that the team didn’t want to return to Portland. They wanted to sweep the Blazers at home. It sure looks like that’ll happen now.

This is a whole different attitude for a Pelicans’ team that had been used to mediocrity and disappointment for so long. Thanks to that attitude, they look like a juggernaut. Rondo is giving a master class from the point guard position. Mirotic is scoring 30 points in the playoffs. Holiday has been phenomenal on both ends, saving Game 1 with some unreal defensive stops and winning Game 2 with clutch shots. Davis is casually unstoppable and everywhere. Their defense overall has been suffocating.

The Pelicans have taken the world and the Blazers by complete surprise, and what started as an attempt to make some noise had turned into a warning to the rest that this is a dangerous and different Pelicans team.

By doing so, New Orleans is shedding its old reputation, as a team and as individuals, while laying the building blocks for a brighter future. It remains to be seen how far they go this year, but regardless, it is wonderful to see this team of misfits and doubted men take control of their stories.