Lowe commentary about the Pels….

Nothing revolutionary, but he touches on what has been discussed here.

7. The New Orleans Pelicans melting down in crunch time

On the other end of those two stirring Memphis comebacks: the Pelicans, now 6-8 in games in which the score was within five points in the final five minutes, with the third-worst offensive rating in those games.

The Pels are 7-of-25 from deep in clutch situations. They have 24 turnovers in 55 clutch minutes, including some inexplicable gaffes -- botched inbounds passes, fumbled handoffs, dropped balls.

But it's the overall stagnation that stands out amid New Orleans' crunch-time impotence. They wait too long to get into any action, and too many of their key players spend the full shot clock standing around.

Zion Williamson and Jonas Valanciunas do nothing the entire possession. CJ McCollum does nothing between his token entry pass and serving as a one-on-one bailout.

This is a collision of bad shooting luck and lack of reps, compatibility and perhaps even trust -- or at least a clear conception of the hierarchy on offense. In the scheme of things, Williamson, Ingram and McCollum have not played much together. Their skill sets are not so naturally compatible -- at least not within this roster -- so building chemistry will take time.

That process gets harder if three of the crunch-time five are non-threats from deep, as when Williamson, Valanciunas and Herbert Jones play together.

One note on that stalled possession: Trey Murphy III was on the floor over Jones. Earlier in that fourth quarter, New Orleans used Murphy in a super-sized lineup without a traditional guard -- Murphy, Ingram, Jones, Williamson and Valanciunas. Murphy played the entire overtime. He played most of the 4th quarter in New Orleans' clutch win over the Utah Jazz Thursday night.

The early results are scattershot, but it is healthy for coach Willie Green to try more lineups with Murphy over one (current) starter. He just has to play more. He brings too much of what the team needs on both ends.

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