#Why Zion Williamson’s Pelicans remain in NBA playoff hunt

By Jonathan Von Tobel, VSiN

The NBA bubble has been stupendous, in my opinion. These games have been fun and competitive. The most fascinating aspect of the NBA seeding games is the competition for the Western Conference’s final playoff seed, and Thursday’s game between the New Orleans Pelicans and Sacramento Kings Kings will go a long way toward finalizing it.

After losing its first two seeding games, New Orleans broke the slide Monday with a 109-99 win over the Grizzlies. The win kept the Pelicans’ playoff chances afloat, but the issues that have been hampering New Orleans persisted.

Before the win over Memphis, the Pelicans posted a 101.0 offensive rating, and that trend continued Monday as they averaged just 1.048 points per possession. Their offense was statistically better but still nowhere near the level that we’ve seen out of the team. Remember, New Orleans’ offense went into the hiatus with a 114.0 efficiency rating in its final 18 games after the addition Zion Williamson.

Can they snap out of their offensive funk against Sacramento? The Kings might be the team to do it against. Sacramento, my “dark horse” selection for the eighth seed, has yet to find a victory in Orlando.

The Kings are giving up 117.9 points every 100 possessions, one of the worst defensive ratings in the bubble, and they’re getting crushed from everywhere. Their opponents in the bubble have been averaging well more than a point per possession in the half-court and more than 1.5 points per possession in transition.

Despite the struggles of their offense overall, the Pelicans have been efficient in transition in two of their three seeding games and posted their best fast-break efficiency mark of the bubble on Monday. This could be a sign of things to come for New Orleans, but is this where the market comes back on the Pelicans?

New Orleans has been a public team for a while now, and coming off a win and cover against Memphis could have invigorated bettors once more. The Pelicans closed as a 4¹/₂-point favorite against the Grizzlies on Monday. They currently are four-point favorites at William Hill for Thursday’s game against the Kings, but this has the potential to get inflated a point or so by tip-off.

Celtics vs. Raptors, Friday: What’s up with Boston’s defense? In three seeding games, the Celtics have posted a 117.9 defensive rating, a far cry from the team that finished the regular season sixth in that category.

The sky is not falling for Boston, but the defense clearly has not been there. The Celtics’ defensive rating is going to improve over the course of the seeding games, but when it improves is important. Boston is not going to catch Toronto for the second seed, but they are just 1  ¹/₂ games up on Miami for the third seed. Allowing the Heat to surpass them means the Celtics would fall into Milwaukee’s side of the bracket.

Jonathan Von Tobel writes for VSiN.com, The Sports Betting Network.