The New Orleans Pelicans and Sacramento Kings met Thursday night at the Smoothie King Center with both teams still winless at 0-4, a matchup that guaranteed one side would leave the opening week of the season under even more pressure. For the Pelicans, it was another chance to stop an early skid that has already put them in familiar territory.
Derik Queen said the team needed the game badly, and he pointed ahead to Saturday’s matchup with Atlanta as part of why the moment mattered. “We definitely have got to get this one,” Queen said. “I’m not trying to be too cocky, but I feel like we need this one desperately going into Atlanta.”
The urgency is easy to measure because the Pelicans are already trying to climb out of the hole they dug in the first four games. They have lost their first four for the second straight year, and last season they needed seven games to get their first victory after opening 0-6. Thursday was also the second night of a back-to-back after a 104-91 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday, a game in which they trailed from start to finish.
That is the part that has made the early season feel heavier than a simple bad start. The Pelicans have said their biggest problem has been finishing games, and the losses have come against focused, more disciplined opponents in the Indiana Pacers, the Utah Jazz and the Denver Nuggets. Queen put it plainly after the latest defeat: the teams they have faced have executed better, and New Orleans has not yet matched that standard for a full game.
Jamahl Mosley said the mood inside the group reflects that frustration. “Guys aren’t happy,” he said after the loss, adding, “Nobody wants to be 0-4.” He described the urgency for the Kings game as high and said it should be high, because no one in the league is going to hand over a win. The Pelicans have won eight of their last 12 against the Kings, but that history only matters if they can finally close one out now.
There are still three winless teams left in the league, including the Pelicans, Kings and Brooklyn Nets, so Thursday’s game was not just another early-season date on the schedule. It was a chance for New Orleans to avoid a fifth straight loss and keep the season from slipping further before Atlanta arrives on Saturday. If the Pelicans do not fix the finishing problem soon, the record will keep telling the same story no matter how urgent they sound.
