The New Orleans Pelicans fell to 4-5 with last night’s defeat at the hands of the San Antonio Spurs, 109-95. What was once the league’s fastest team has collapsed to fifth, it’s first overall offensive rating to sixth.

The Pelicans have lost mojo on offense, much of which can be attributed to the degenerating health of Anthony Davis. Davis popped up on the injury report following the stupefying late-game heroics of Jrue Holiday against the Brooklyn Nets. He was held out against the Utah Jazz to an elbow strain that head coach Alvin Gentry thought not to be a big deal.

Even worse than it’s offensive shortcomings have been its unforgivable defense on the other end. The Pelicans now sit at 29th in opponents points per game (120.6), 25th in defensive rating (115), and rest in the bottom ten of every major defensive category with rebounding the lone exception.

Put simply, the Pelicans have been very bad over the past five games in losses to the Jazz, Nuggets, Warriors, Blazers, and Spurs on the defensive side of the ball. Teams have their way in the paint (52 points per game) against a team said to “Do it Bigger” than everyone else.

The blame can’t fall solely on Anthony Davis’ sore elbow. The bench we spoke of flatlined against the Spurs, contributing just six points in 59 minutes between Wesley Johnson, Tim Frazier, Ian Clark and Darius Miller.

In addition, Julius Randle’s on/off numbers have been downright horrid. The team’s sixth man of the year candidate has failed to post a positive plus/minus since the Pelicans opening weekend blowouts of the Houston Rockets and Sacramento Kings.

But Anthony Davis has not been without help. Jrue Holiday, at 19/8/4, has the Pelicans at five points better in offensive rating and NINE points better in defensive rating. Holiday has shined in early season performances against both the Nets and against the Spurs. The oft-forgotten star even earned the praise of Steph Curry following the 131-121 loss to the Warriors.

“I always used to say he’s one of the most underrated players in the League – I don’t know if that is the case anymore”@StephenCurry30 respects @Jrue_Holiday11‘s work#doitBIG | @PelicansNBA | #NBATwitter pic.twitter.com/N9M0s3pijX

— FOXSports NewOrleans (@FOXSportsNOLA) November 1, 2018

Nikola Mirotic is enjoying a breakout campaign in a contract year. At 22 points per game and eleven rebounds with a 58 percent efficiency rate, Mirotic is a borderline All-Star candidate nine games into the season. His scoring explosions directly contributed to the early season blowouts of the Rockets and Kings, and he continues to keep the Pelicans afloat on their five-game west coast road trip. Like Jrue Holiday, his on/off numbers are impressive offensively (+4), but even better defensively (+9). I wrote about this breakout this offseason.

The Pelicans have been without newly acquired point guard Elfrid Payton after exiting against both the Nets and Jazz with cramps and a sprained ankle, and the Pelicans depth has failed to replace his production on both ends of the floor. But the ever-steady E’Twaun Moore has stepped up admirably alongside Jrue Holiday to keep the Pelicans close in contests against the Nuggets and Warriors. E’Twaun Moore even led the bench mob to an improbable 29-9 run against the Utah Jazz in what was thought to be a laugher as early as the second quarter.

And now we come to Anthony Davis. It is clearly evident he is playing through an immense amount of pain. The Pelicans will struggle to win without him during this stretch through the Western Conference’s primary contenders, but he doesn’t need to be almost perfect for the Pelicans to win these games. The Pelicans have the pieces in place to win against any team in the West. The Pelicans starting five carried a +35 rating through four games, and will get better production from their bench going forward. But it’s true, the Pelicans can’t be successful with their MVP candidate contributing just 17 points on 5/13 shooting in 40 minutes as he did against the Spurs. So too, his 17 points on 6/16 against the Warriors in 41 minutes will simply not get it done. Anthony Davis doesn’t need to be perfect, but he needs to be good.

But more importantly, the Pelicans defense HAS to be better with and without Anthony Davis:

“With AD in the lineup, opponents have registered a 52.1 eFG%. Without him, that effective field goal percentage balloons to 58.4%. That’s the difference between something you would expect from an average defense versus my eyes, oh, MY EYES!”

–Oleh Kosel, The Bird Writes

The New Orleans Pelicans have fallen out of the playoff standings with five consecutive losses, and could feasibly fall to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday night, winners of their last four after beginning the season 0-4. If the Pelicans are to stand any chance against Russell Westbrook and Paul George they will need to tighten up defensively, and that starts with their bench.

Photos by Mark Sobhani/NBAE via Getty Images