標籤: Borrego

James Borrego has no interest in spinning a story about what the New Orleans Pelicans have done after the NBA All-Star break. The math of the playoff picture is the same, but the coach says what’s going on inside the Big Easy’s locker room is very real. Zion Williamson and Dejounte Murray may be playing their best basketball ever, but this turnaround has nothing to do with clipboard-based schemes.

The turnaround has been largely driven by a starting unit that has quickly found its rhythm with an All-Star point guard in the mix. This is obvious and cannot be overstated. How well they fit together is being overlooked at a time when most teams would be planning for the summer holidays.

“Yeah, you know, that group has played well together,” Borrego began. “That settles us with the herb handling, you got Murph out there, Saddiq and Z have a two-man game going on.”

Murray sets up buckets for Williamson, Trey Murphy III and Saddiq Bey while Herb Jones does a little bit of everything. It certainly seems like a recipe for success, although it will have to wait until next year. Unfortunately, it’s too late for the Pelicans to make postseason noise. Still, despite having very slim chances of catching the Golden State Warriors for the final NBA Play-in Tournament spot, the Pelicans continue to play with pride.

Borrego stressed, “I would say more than anything, there’s just a caring factor, an urgency and a belief.” “There’s a ‘this is all that matters’ mentality right now. Like we want to do something. We want to be competitive. We want to grow. We want to get better. We’re taking pride every day in our film sessions, practices, shootarounds, games and our overall mentality of finishing strong and being a team moving in the right direction. And more than anything, it’s a group effort. Everyone bought in, in the same direction.”

The lineup has appeared in balanced production. Over the past 15 games, the Pelicans have ranked among the more efficient offensive teams in the league, relying on Williamson’s interior scoring, Murphy’s perimeter gravitas and Murray’s shot creation to produce consistent looks. Bey’s versatility and Not on Herb’s defensive factors complete a unit that now plays with clear distinction and purpose.

the pelicans are playing to win

Borrego, for his part, doesn’t think much about where the race began.

“Obviously, staying healthy helps,” the interim head coach acknowledged. “I’m not going to get caught up in that. By getting Dejounte back, we now have depth, size and physicality on our defense.”

Murray’s return has reestablished the structure at both ends. Offensively, the 29-year-old has given the Pelicans another primary initiator, reducing the burden on Williamson while improving late-game execution. Defensively, his length along with Jones has helped the Pelicans gain a disruptive edge that was inconsistent under Willie Green. Still, Borrego was quick to dismiss the idea that the team’s recent form is entirely linked to health.

“Overall, it’s been a mentality of taking care of each other and playing,” Borrego explained. “I think we’ve had that going for us for quite some time now. It didn’t happen overnight or in the last six to ten games. I guess we’ve been top five in clutch games all year. I think we’ve probably been top five in clutch games all year. We’ve been putting ourselves back, even when we were losing games, we said put ourselves in these situations to win games. Keep fighting. Keep hitting the rock.”

Over the last 15 games, the Pelicans are in the top 10 in scoring (119.4), field goal percentage (48.3%), turnovers (15.5), and free-throw attempts (28.8). It took a few months, but the nuances of Borrego’s game plan are starting to become second nature.

How does he feel about working for months to keep this season from being ruined?

Borrego insisted, “This is what has led us to this moment. We didn’t flip a switch and turn it on.” “We’ve been working on it for months, and it’s finally starting to turn around. But it’s been an overall commitment to working every day, getting better and playing for each other. I think that’s been the biggest factor there.”

This is going to be a big factor in the front office’s head coach decision coming soon. It must be said how much Williamson and Murray are investing in the ideas.

With playmaking guard Dejounte Murray sidelined for most of the season recovering from an Achilles injury and role players cycling in and out of the lineup, it has been nearly impossible to establish a clear offensive chain of command. Fortunately, the now fully healthy New Orleans Pelicans are making progress playing without the pressure of finishing the season. Zion Williamson, Saddiq Bey and Trey Murphy III are taking turns seeing what works while James Borrego largely stays out of the way.

This may not sound like very good coaching at first, but drawing on his years of experience as an assistant with Gregg Popovich’s San Antonio Spurs, Borrego knows exactly what a functional hierarchy looks like. The 23-year NBA coaching veteran with two championship rings also knows it doesn’t happen overnight. Williamson, Bey and Murphy III need reps with Murray to sort everything out themselves.

“I think the best teams in the league, the teams that are chasing titles, winning titles, advancing in the playoffs, they have a clear pecking order in general,” Borrego insisted. “The teams I’ve been a part of, it was obviously Duncan, Ginobili and Parker. Now, that order may vary at some point throughout the season or in different games. Through different seasons or different playoff series, it may vary there.”

Those Spurs teams became the gold standard for consistency and offensive clarity. Duncan often served as the foundational piece inside, while Ginobili and Parker served as dynamic perimeter creators who could take over extensions when the matchup demanded it.

However, unlike those famous Spurs, these Pelicans are still in development years after drafting Williamson and Murphy III.

“Our group, we’re not quite there yet,” Borrego confessed. “We’re trying to figure it out. I think the luxury right now is that we don’t really know, and our competitors don’t know.”

That uncertainty can be a double-edged sword. While that lack of clarity can sometimes lead to confusing turnover, Borrego is choosing to see it as a competitive advantage. This work-in-progress roster is learning the ropes with a fluid system that lets the hot hand direct the offense rather than a rigid star system.

It’s working wonders for Murphy III, Bey and Williamson, judging solely on individual hooping stats. Murray has settled into the starting lineup like an All-Star. The next step is to make the whole greater than the sum of the parts. He’s on Borrego.

Borrego stressed, “We’re going to find the right matchups; it’s my job to help them get that advantage. But people are recognizing it, they’re counting on it.” “You know, assuming it’s not my time, so let’s play through Saddiq here. Let’s play through Murph here. Let’s play through Zion here. Because I think great players, when they find a rhythm, they want to stay in that rhythm. And it’s the same thing as a team. When you get some rhythm, you want to stay in that rhythm. I think we’ll get there at some point. I think That luxury right now is that we can play through multiple guys.”

It’s a bit silly to talk about the unknown as a luxury this season. Yet, despite a 21-45 record that has left them well out of the playoff picture, the Pelicans have shown signs of life, going 6-4 after the All-Star break. However, fans should take that news with a grain of salt. Borrego has defeated one of the top six in 2026 and just three since taking office. So, whether that luxury becomes a long-term asset or another sign of a team that is still searching for an identity will depend on how quickly these Pelicans find their version of Duncan, Ginobili and Parker.

With six weeks remaining in the regular season, James Borrego is making a final case to remove the interim tag. For better or worse, as the rookie-led New Orleans Pelicans embark on a crucial post-All-Star Game stretch, the acting head coach knows exactly where the front office’s magnifying glass will be focused. Any shortfall means being in the news for all the wrong reasons after the 82-game task is complete.

Borrego, replacing Willie Green, will have to show he can solve two persistent issues that have plagued the Pelicans this season. Slow starts and inconsistent clutch production have been an issue for too long given the top-level talent available. Players have to close out games, but the coaching staff is ready to make a plan at the starting point.

“It’s a responsibility when you try to get your team off to a good start and set the tone for the night. We haven’t done that (this season), but that’s the goal, we have a job ahead of us,” Borrego said. “We have explored some other areas of development, but the beginning is extremely important. We have our eye on that and will make appropriate adjustments.”

The Pelicans are 24th in the standings based on first-quarter scoring alone and 18th in first-quarter points per game. Borrego’s group is winning only 27% of the time in the first quarter. Unfortunately, after hosting the Warriors on February 24, New Orleans embarks on a six-game road trip. The end of the season is more difficult. Seven of the team’s last 10 games are underway, culminating with facing the Minnesota Timberwolves on April 12.

If the team can even get 10 wins over the final six weeks of the season, Joe Dumars and Troy Weaver will probably give Borrego an honest chance at a full season. However, a slow start and inconsistent clutch production will leave the front office with no choice but to look to outside options.

When Zion Williamson’s highly-touted New Orleans Pelicans began the season, Karlo Matkovic was not included as a key rotational piece. However, through sheer effort, physicality and an infectious team-first mentality, the young big man has put James Borrego in a welcome dilemma.

Matkovic’s steady growth from a fringe option to a reliable contributor has complicated lineup options, especially with multiple productive big men competing for minutes.

Matkovic is flirting with 10-point and 10-rebound nights more often, while shooting 46% from 3-point range (1.2 attempts per game). As of February 23, he has had at least two blocks in three of his last eight games. It is impossible to ignore the 24-year-old Croatian’s recent performances.

“He’s making it hard for me,” Borrego told ClutchPoints. “It’s hard to decide who we’re going to play with, who we’re not going to play with. We have a lot of guys that are playing well in the front court with (Derrick Queen, Yves Missy) and Carlo. (Kevon Looney) is a professional and he’s been there; then there’s also (Zion Williamson). Still, Carlo continues to impress on me through his effort, his physicality, his size and his ability to be a two-way player. Keeps pressing. Offensively, (Matkovic) plays with great pace, gets up the floor and can make threes.

However, what separates Matkovic from a typical young player fighting for minutes goes beyond the box score. Borrego has been particularly impressed with what the big man brings to the less measurable areas of the game.

“It’s all the intangibles, too. (Matkovic) doesn’t care if he scores or gets credit. That’s what you want to be as a team,” Borrego said. “Carlo is a team-first person.”

Matkovic’s emergence has largely come through consistent energy and reliability rather than headline-grabbing stat lines. Borrego suggests that that selfless character did not happen by accident.

Borrego admitted, “Somewhere at home, someone taught him well; he was raised well. He was coached well, and he has a sense of selflessness and a sense of team that I really like.” “It reflects in his play, and he continues to play with great confidence.”

Matkovic was not projected to be a regular part of the rotation when the season began. Yet every time he steps onto the floor, he gets another chance… and then another.

The Pelicans are crazy about Karlo Matkovic

Confidence, in fact, has been one of the most visible developments in Matkovic’s game as the workload has increased. The more he plays, the more natural he looks in an NBA setting.

“As you said, (Matkovic) looks more comfortable with more minutes,” Borrego acknowledged. “He’s earned it. It’s not been given to him. He wasn’t projected to start this season, but we put him in there. I trust him and believe in him. He knows that, and I don’t see him losing.”

Matkovic, the 52nd overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, has offered an intriguing blend of modern big man skills. At 6-foot-10 with legitimate shooting range, he adds a cool, unselfish credibility that coaches want. If the Pelicans don’t pick up the $2.2 million club option, at least one team will value those attributes in free agency this summer.

Borrego doesn’t hide how much he values ​​that last part. In a league where egos can derail the locker room, Matkovic’s willingness to do the dirty work without needing the spotlight has made him a favorite of both the coaching staff and his teammates. The coach’s “difficult” decision is unlikely to be easy.

As long as Matkovic continues to bring the same effort, physicality and team-first mentality every night, the rebuilding Pelicans will need to keep finding ways to get him on the floor because right now, giving up on him feels like the wrong choice in both the short and long term. In a league always looking for shooting, size and unselfishness, Karlo Matkovic is proving to be a rare combination of all three. And he’s making James Borrego’s job extremely difficult in the process.

詹姆斯·博雷戈帶領的新奧爾良鵜鶘隊擁有聯盟最強大的引擎之一，他們正在經歷一場根本性的、深思熟慮的轉變。錫安·威廉姆森的進攻上限從來沒有被懷疑過。從統計數據來看，它已經進入了NBA最佳陣容。然而，問題在於圍繞一個以高使用率、下坡力量為基礎的陣容建立一個可持續的防守生態系統，而他的最大價值來自於他手中的球。

這位全明星球員的塊頭最好用在低位阻擋或作為協防者，而不是攻擊點進攻者，因此詹姆斯·博雷戈將霸王球帶回了大容易。從一號到五號的大個子減輕了威廉姆森成為后防線橡皮擦的負擔，讓這位控球前鋒能夠在進攻時節省能量，同時仍然適合連貫、有效的防守方案。這就是為什麼薩迪克·貝、特雷·墨菲三世、赫伯·瓊斯和薩迪克·貝應該習慣當前的設置。

“嗯，我認為部分原因是我們增加了陣容的規模，”博雷戈指出。 “我們在這一領域緩慢但肯定地取得了進展，但你知道，我認為董事會，我們一直在關注董事會。”

對於一支一直在努力尋找防守定位的球隊來說，這一轉變代表著哲學上的轉變。博雷戈明確表示，如果防守沒有顯著改善，其中包括完成控球的籃板球，鵜鶘隊就無法爭奪相關性。新奧爾良隊最近變得更好，從本賽季的場均 43.9 個籃板（第 17 位）上升到自從進入更大的首發陣容以來，場均籃板數為 45.9 個（第 10 位）。

“在半場比賽中，身體素質是第一位的。只是以犯規為代價，變得更加靈活、身體素質和侵略性。我們正試圖通過我們的身體素質來扭轉這一局面，”博雷戈解釋道。 “所以，正如我和我們的球員們分享的那樣，要想成為聯盟中一支重要的球隊，你就必須防守。沒有一支球隊的防守能夠在聯盟中排名第 28、29 或 30 位。這不會發生。”

強調身高和肌肉補充了威廉姆森的比賽，同時解決了球隊的防守缺陷。通過用體型更大、身體素質更強的球員包圍控球前鋒，鵜鶘隊的目標是控制籃板並在油漆區建立更具威脅性的存在。

博雷戈指出：“那些比兩年前、一年前取得進步的球隊，都是通過防守鏡頭做到的。” “作為一個組織，我們必須找到一種防守身份來推動這件事向前發展。這就是我們的目標。我們的球員理解這一點，我們重視它，並且向前邁進，我們必須看到並要求防守是首要任務。”

博雷戈願意接受更多的犯規，以換取更多的身體素質，這標誌著方法的根本轉變。鵜鶘隊沒有採取謹慎的防守，而是採取了一種更加激進的心態，優先考慮破壞和強硬。這是扭轉停滯文化的第一步，這種文化似乎很適合參加 NBA 入圍賽。