At this point, it would be difficult for even the most paranoid person to see a path for the Nets to make the play-in tournament.
The Pelicans defeated the Pelicans 104-91 on Tuesday night at Barclays Center, leaving them the 10th seed in the Eastern Conference and 4 1/2 games behind the Hawks for the final play-in spot with 13 games remaining.
The loss extended the Nets’ losing streak to four games, marking the fourth time this season the Nets have lost at least four games in a row.
The number of empty seats was an indictment of how the Nets, at this stage of the season, are simply playing their best remaining games.
It wasn’t even very competitive. And it quickly got ugly.
The Pelicans went on a 20-4 run to start the second quarter to take a 47-25 lead and never looked back. At times, the Pelicans seemed like they were just practicing, tearing apart the Nets’ defense with ease. There was little that could be done to stop the Nets’ disjointed offense, which forced 13 turnovers, nine of them in the first half.
Fans were far more excited about Zion Williamson’s monster alley-oop dunk in the fourth quarter than any of the Nets’ dunks.
But it wasn’t even the red-skinned Williamson who did the most damage during the Pelicans’ breakthrough. He committed two fouls early and scored just eight points in the first half, but bounced back in the second half and finished with 28 points.
Entering Tuesday, Larry Nance Jr. wowed the Nets by averaging just 5.5 points per game, scoring 11 points in the first half on his first five shots from the field and finishing with 13 points after that.
CJ McCollum added 16 points and Brandon Ingram added 11 points.
The Nets allowed the Pelicans a whopping 50.6 percent from the field.
Mikal Bridges, who was playing in his 500th consecutive game, started 2-of-11 from the field and was the team’s only netter to make a shot on his first 11 attempts.
As a team, the Nets shot just 36.9 percent from the field. Cam Thomas scored a team-high 25 points and provided a rare bright spot.
