NBA scores 2016: The Pelicans are back from the dead and pushing for the playoffs

With six wins in their last eight games, New Orleans is telling everyone to put away the shovels for a minute.

by Tim Cato

Jan 29, 2016, 1:27 PM UTC

Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

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NBA Thursday: Surging Pelicans knock off Kings, Bulls trounce Lakers

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There were reasons for the New Orleans Pelicans losing their first six games. When their record fell to 1-11 record, it was understood how badly injuries had wrecked this team's chances to succeed like many thought they could. By the time they reached Christmas, limping and wounded with a 9-20 record, the Pelicans' season seemed to be over -- another casualty of how brutal the NBA can be.

Yet, here the Pelicans are, just three games back of the Western Conference’s No. 8 seed, winners of six of their last eight games. To call this surprising would be understating just how impressive the Pelicans have been, suddenly coming together in a cohesive bundle that looked unobtainable during those opening weeks of this year.

On Thursday, in a matchup pivotal for playoff positioning against the Kings, Anthony Davis couldn't play, still day-to-day with a concussion. With Tyreke Evans also out, New Orleans started a lineup that earned plenty of raised eyebrows -- are we sure, like really sure, that Bryce Dejean-Jones isn't an NBA 2K create-a-player?

Couple of changes to our #Pelicans Starting 5 tonight from @Take5_OilChange. pic.twitter.com/t37LUvA8Lr
— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) January 29, 2016

Emblematic of the way they've unexpectedly climbed back into playoff contention, the Pelicans beat Sacramento 114-105 anyway. Ryan Anderson dropped 30 points in the first half, the most by any player in the first half in the NBA this season, while Dejean-Jones actually filled in admirably with 14 points on 12 shots. Jrue Holiday added 25 points on 8-of-24 shooting off the bench, adding eight assists without a single turnover. The Kings rallied late, but as DeMarcus Cousins said after the game, the game was won by New Orleans with their dominate first half. Finally, Anderson -- who finished with 36 points -- found Omer Asik for an easy dunk with 1:06 left, putting the Pelicans up 10 to ice the game.

This was a win the Pelicans had to have, and Anderson admitted the team had called it a “must-win” in his televised postgame interview afterwards. New Orleans knows how steep their climb back into relevance is, and three games out of the No. 8 seed is still a long distance to close. The Western Conference’s middle class parity has helped New Orleans recover lost ground, but now that there’s five teams within three games of the final playoff spot, it’s much harder to consistently gain ground except by beating teams within this eighth seed cluster as often as possible.

Still, the Pelicans are clearly trending upwards. They've just about played .500 ball since Nov. 20, going 16-17 while ranking No. 8 in offensive rating and No. 18 in defensive rating. In their last eight games, the Alvin Gentry-led offense is second-best in the NBA with a 113.8 offensive rating, trailing only the incredible Warriors. Even with players going in and out of the lineup with injuries (what's new), the Pelicans are finally cobbling together an identity and a workable rotation. Anderson is thriving as a sixth man, Evans is playing the best basketball of his career and Davis, while not reaching as high as expected, is still plenty amazing in his own right. Coming into the season, nearly everyone had the Pelicans as a playoff team. Their ceiling when everyone is playing right rises so much higher than anything the teams around them can match.

The Pelicans' early season schedule did them no favors, but the games leading up to the All-Star break mix heavyweights (at San Antonio, at Cleveland) with a few easier matchups (vs. Brooklyn, vs. LA Lakers, at Minnesota). New Orleans has to keep accumulating wins as they make up for lost ground, but the really hard work -- getting back in the playoff picture at all -- is done. Once thought dead, it's time to admit that the Pelicans are very, very alive.

3 other things from Thursday

The Raptors set a franchise record with 10th straight win

Toronto isn't just the hottest team in the NBA -- they're demolishing any and all challengers right now. Seven of their 10 straight wins have been by double digits, and while the competition hasn't completely been there (Nets twice, Sixers and Magic), they also crushed the Clippers 112-94 to begin the week.

On Thursday, it was the New York Knicks who didn't stand a chance in a game without Carmelo Anthony, Kristaps Porzingis or Jose Calderon. Both of the Raptors' All-Stars, starter Kyle Lowry and reserve DeMar DeRozan, scored 26 points, continuing a stretch of basketball that's the best Toronto's ever seen.

This fantastic run of games from the Raptors has firmly planted them as the Eastern Conference's second-best team. At 31-15, they're just two games back from Cleveland, pushing LeBron James and the top-seeded Cavaliers that everyone assumed was a lock to win the conference. There's no clear end in sight for Toronto, either: heading into the All-Star break, they play the Pistons at home, followed by a five-game road trip: Denver, Phoenix, Portland, Detroit again and Minnesota. Surely one of those games will trip them up, but they're all winnable. That should enough to make the Cavaliers nervous.

Jimmy Butler eviscerated the Lakers

There wasn't any room for subtlety on the tail end of the nationally televised doubleheader. The Chicago Bulls are a good basketball team and the Lakers aren't, and Jimmy Butler led the way making sure everyone knew exactly that.

Butler made his 26 look entirely too easy, like this quick alley-oop connection with Pau Gasol below. Butler also had 10 assists and five rebounds in a game that was basically garbage time from the start of the fourth quarter.

The NBA All-Star Game rosters are finalized. Well, probably.

The full rosters, East and West, starters and bench, can be seen right here, thanks to Thursday's announcement of the reserve players. The most questionable selection had to have been LaMarcus Aldridge, who plays for the NBA's second-best team but isn't putting up numbers that would normally earn him a selection if it wasn't for a pre-existing pedigree. Aldridge's presence means Damian Lillard and Dirk Nowitzki are snubs for the game next month in Toronto.

Still, there's almost always an injury substitute or two. The currently injured Davis might be the most likely candidate, if not for his concussion then for another one of his myriad nagging ailments. So, there's still a decent chance Lillard, or perhaps Reggie Jackson in the Eastern Conference, will sneak into the game if someone drops out. But at least for now, the lineups are set.