There were a lot of words that could be used to sum up what the Pelicans accomplished in a play-in victory over the Spurs on Wednesday night.
[shortcode-inline-related expand="1" link="/wwl/news/local/gayle-benson-wwl-is-that-friend-you-can-always-count-on" headline="Gayle Benson: "I think of WWL as that friend you can always count on"" image="/media-library/image.jpg?id=64211937"]But team owner Gayle Benson only needed one, really, as she congratulated the team in the team locker room at the Smoothie King Center after the game.
“All I can say is wow. … This was incredible,” Benson said, alongside coach Willie Green.
Can't see the video below? Click here.
The result was one that the team had been building to for several months after a 3-16 start to the year that threatened to leave the team dead in the water and without star Zion Williamson. But the remarkable turnaround from that point saw a 33-30 record the rest of the way despite the continued absense of their star forward, buoyed by tremendous play from Brandon Ingram, an Jonas Valanciunas, a trio of talented rookies in Herb Jones, Trey Murphy and Jose Alvarado and the midseason acquisition of star guard CJ McCollum.
“Y’all have grown so much and you’ve gotten so good," Benson said. "I’m so proud of y’all, I really am.”
And the win leaves the Pelicans just one win shy of the place not even the Saints could get to this past season: The playoffs. In order to get there they'll first have to travel to L.A. and upset the higher-seeded Clippers, much like the Grizzlies did last season in reaching the playoffs as the 8 seed.
It'd mark the first time since 2018 the Pelicans officially reached the playoff bracket, and Willie Green had three words to say on the subject before his team departed Wednesday: "Pack a bag."
