I haven’t been on this thread until the last 10 mins. But you know they already butchered us at their place, without Murphy and McCollum. And now they beat us at our place. And so the logic is they don’t have our number??
The Kings played well enough to qualify for the In-Season Tournament Quarterfinals in the first place and it was a 5pt game mid-way through the 4th. From that point on we had open shots that didn't fall and they had open shots that did. That's not a matter of being outclassed, that's just a bad roll of the dice.
These teams played even tonight with each team taking turns going on a huge run and they ended up on top. Allowances should also be made for the Kings "fouling" the Pelicans with their faces twice. That set the tone that their physicality was going to be rewarded and we were going to be playing behind. I'll give it up to the Pelicans for forcing the issue and being physical enough to take us out of our gameplan for around 20 minutes. They also have a better bench unit than we do and Ingram is a helluva shot-maker.
I give them props for being a good team and they're going to be a tough matchup for everyone this season. But considering the Kings have already beaten almost every contender in the west this season besides the Pelicans, I don't think they're a better team than the Kings and I don't think three games is a big enough sample to abandon all hope.