NEW ORLEANS — What started as a promising weekend for the New Orleans Pelicans slowly was turning into a nightmare.
In a pivotal back-to-back set against the two teams they’re battling in the Western Conference play-in race, the Pelicans lost by four points to the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday, then found themselves down 23 to the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday night.
But after a 41-point third quarter, the Pelicans pushed through for a 116-108 victory, sliding into ninth place in the West with a half-game lead on the Lakers and a 1½-game lead on the Spurs.
“We made a few adjustments at halftime just challenging our group to be more disciplined,” Pelicans coach Willie Green said. “We were kind of all over the place. To their credit, they came out and punched us in the mouth right away. We hung in there. We were just resilient all game long. The goal and the…
