The New Orleans Pelicans are finally stringing wins together-and for the first time all season, they’ve got a three-game streak to show for it. But this isn’t just about momentum. It’s about rhythm, rest, and a little bit of breathing room in the schedule-something they haven’t had much of since James Borrego took over as interim head coach.
Let’s rewind for a second. When Borrego stepped in, the Pelicans were thrown into a whirlwind.
Thirteen games in 23 days, including three back-to-backs. That’s not a schedule-it’s a gauntlet.
And it left little to no time for what teams in transition need most: practice. Real, focused, get-your-hands-dirty kind of practice.
That’s changed over the past couple of weeks. Since that brutal stretch ended, the Pelicans have had 11 days to regroup.
In that span, Borrego has squeezed in six practices around three straight wins, including a gritty, come-from-behind 133-128 overtime victory over the Rockets on Thursday night. And yes, they even managed to sneak in a Friday workout before a quick turnaround against the Pacers on Saturday.
“We spent a lot of time on the defensive end,” Borrego said before facing Houston. “We’ve been bleeding on that end of the floor.”
He wasn’t exaggerating. The Pelicans had struggled to get stops, especially in transition and on the glass.
But with more time to drill the fundamentals, Borrego emphasized two key areas: communication in transition and rebounding. Those are the pillars he believes can stabilize the defense-and give this team a fighting chance every night.
And it’s starting to show.
Take Sunday’s win over the Bulls. New Orleans held Chicago to just 104 points-tied for their second-lowest allowed this season-and won the rebounding battle 43-33.
That’s a clear sign of progress. But the real test came against Houston, the NBA’s top team in offensive rebounding, total rebounds, and rebounding margin.
The Rockets did what they do-they crashed the boards hard and ended up with a 58-41 edge. In the first half, they were dominant, building a 22-point lead by halftime and stretching it to 25 early in the third. But then something clicked.
New Orleans flipped the script, outscoring Houston 86-56 the rest of the way.
“We were getting stops,” Borrego said. “Then we get out and run. It’s tough to score in transition if you’re not getting stops.”
It’s a simple truth in basketball: defense fuels offense. And when the Pelicans started stringing together stops, their pace picked up.
The ball moved. The energy shifted.
Heads were up. Confidence grew.
And suddenly, a 25-point deficit didn’t seem insurmountable.
A big part of that defensive surge came from Herb Jones, who was everywhere. The former All-Defensive first-team selection had a career-high eight steals-eight.
That’s not just a stat line, that’s a momentum machine. Those eight takeaways turned into 10 points going the other way, and Borrego didn’t hold back in his praise.
“Herb was phenomenal,” he said. “That’s elite.”
Elite is right. Jones didn’t just disrupt Houston’s offense-he ignited New Orleans’. His defensive instincts, timing, and anticipation gave the Pelicans a jolt when they needed it most.
The comeback tied a franchise record for the largest deficit overcome in a win (25 points), and it was the first time the team had ever erased a deficit that large in the second half. That’s the kind of fight you want to see from a young team trying to find its identity.
But Borrego isn’t sugarcoating things. He knows the Pelicans can’t keep living on the edge.
“We’ve got to get off to better starts,” he said. “We take a punch and then we find our way back, which is a great characteristic to have… but we want to be more steady. We want to be more consistent where we’re hitting them for 48 minutes.”
That’s the next step: consistency. The Pelicans have shown they can respond. Now they need to show they can dictate.
Even in the win over Chicago, Borrego saw cracks in the defense. One-on-one matchups, in particular, have become a point of emphasis.
“There’s no hiding from it,” he said. “You can watch the video and say, did I guard my guy or did I not?
And these guys are seeing their numbers there. There’s no excuse behind it.”
That kind of accountability is what Borrego is preaching. Guard your man.
Take pride in it. Because in a league that’s built on isolation scoring and mismatches, being able to hold your ground one-on-one matters.
At 6-22, the Pelicans still have a long climb ahead. But with the Pacers (6-21) coming to town and a home game against Dallas on the horizon, this is a chance to keep building.
The practices are paying off. The defense is tightening up.
And the fight is clearly there.
Now it’s about sustaining it. Because as Borrego put it, “I don’t want to live in that world” of comeback wins every night.
And he’s right. The Pelicans have shown they can rally.
The next challenge is showing they can control.