Alex Speers

And they've needed Bey's scoring because the one bad piece of news is the continued absence of Trey Murphy.

He's dealing with a shoulder injury.

Looking ahead, though, the Pelicans have a real shot in this final stretch to really help out Joe Dumars and do some damage control on that trade that everyone has been obsessing over since it happened.

It wasn't too long ago that the Pels had the third worst record, 15 wins, but they've since jumped Brooklyn and Washington, only a half game back of Utah, who they're definitely going to pass.

And then you get this trio of Dallas, Memphis, and Chicago.

Okay, so New Orleans is four games back of Dallas, four and a half from Memphis, and then six back of Chicago.

Chicago, that could be tough to pass.

Six games is a lot.

Yeah, it is.

But credit to the Bulls.

The Bulls have lost 11 in a row.

So who knows?

Anything is possible.

But let's just say they can jump both Dallas and Memphis, which I do think is doable.

That would put them, or Atlanta in this case, with the eighth best odds, ninth if they were somehow able to pass Chicago as well.

Obviously, still not great.

And with the flattened lottery odds, the risk is still there.

But a theoretical Derrick Queen for the eighth or ninth pick swap isn't nearly as devastating as this all looked even a few weeks ago.

And with DeJounte back and giving them a significant boost to the point guard position, I think there's a real chance this team could finish the season strong, especially if Trey Murphy's injury isn't too serious.

So that's my good.