After ugly loss, Pelicans hope to bounce back vs Cavs

The New Orleans Pelicans and the Cleveland Cavaliers have some catching up to do during the second half of the season if they are going to make the NBA playoffs.

Both teams are close enough and have enough games remaining to make a push -- if they play better the rest of the way than they did before the All-Star break.

The Pelicans, though, started the second half of their season with their worst performance of the season in a 135-105 home loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday night. The Cavaliers start their second half in New Orleans on Friday.

"A really embarrassing evening for us tonight," Pelicans coach Stan Van Gundy said following the defeat. "(The Timberwolves) were inspired and we didn't seem to care. ... I'm not putting it all on the players, but I'm not absolving them. It's all of us (to blame)."

The game against the Cavaliers completes the first of eight sets of back-to-back games the Pelicans after the All-Star break. New Orleans' 36 second-half games will be played in a span of 67 days, leaving little time for practices.

"The problem is, 'OK, when are we going to work on this?'" Van Gundy said. "You can come up with nine, 10, 11, 12 things that, boy, these things have all got to get better. But when are we working on that stuff?"

The Friday contest against Cleveland is the only one of New Orleans' first nine games out of the break that is not against a Western Conference opponent.

"We still have a lot of time, a lot to play for," Pelicans guard Lonzo Ball said. "This season is far from over. We know we have to move uphill for the second half of the season. But I think we're all ready for the challenge."

The Cavaliers put themselves in a hole with a 10-game losing streak last month, but they followed that with a four-game winning streak before dropping their last game before the All-Star break. They squandered a 19-point, third-quarter lead in a 114-111 loss to the Indiana Pacers on March 3.

"After the game, everyone was pretty disappointed just because we beat ourselves," Cleveland forward Dean Wade said. "After that wore off, everyone was like, 'Just stay together. Don't split now. Stay positive. Just a little bump in the road and nothing we can't fix.' Just have to, you know, keep growing together as a unit."

Cleveland, which had eight idle days between the Pacers game and the Pelicans game, was plagued by injuries during the first half and is still without Matthew Dellavedova (appendicitis). However, Larry Nance Jr. is expected to return from finger surgery performed last month and play against New Orleans, and Kevin Love (calf) could be back, too.

"We get some extra bodies back and our better players coming back," Wade said, "so we're very positive right now."

The Cavaliers have struggled with turnovers this season, and the Pacers' comeback coincided with the departure of point guard Darius Garland because of a strained groin. Cleveland finished the game with 26 giveaways. Garland's status for Friday was uncertain.

"We want to just continue to come and continue to play together," leading scorer Collin Sexton said. "So (we) just think about the team and knowing how we are when we're fully healthy, it looks pretty good for us in the second half of the season."

--Field Level Media