Hockey has the popular “playoff beard.” Apparently the New Orleans Pelicans are subscribing to the opposite approach.
Three days after Anthony Davis pulled off an April Fool’s prank by pretending to shave his famous unibrow, Nikola Mirotic showed up at Wednesday’s shootaround without a beard – the first time in his NBA career that the forward has been clean-shaven.
As New Orleans (43-34) prepared to host Memphis (21-56) Wednesday evening in the Smoothie King Center, the in-season trade acquisition explained that he needed a change, a fresh approach, after he’s been mired in a slump recently. The same could be said for the Pelicans, who are in desperate need of a victory over the Grizzlies, after losing four straight games vs. quality competition (Houston, Portland, Cleveland, Oklahoma City).
“I wanted something new,” Mirotic said. “I thought it was time to shave. It’s an important moment, and I was struggling a little too. We’ll see tonight (what impact it makes).”
Oddly, Mirotic has been a completely different player at home than on the road since joining the Pelicans. For example, the native of Montenegro is shooting 39.2 percent from three-point range in 11 New Orleans road games, but he’s at just 19.6 percent from the arc in the Smoothie King Center. His field-goal percentage is 46.0 on the road, but only 29.1 at home. He has yet to shoot 50 percent from the field in any of his 14 Pelicans home contests.
“Shooters have some up and downs,” Mirotic said of his rollercoaster two months with a new NBA team. “When I first came, I felt great and had a lot of confidence. After that I had a couple games that weren’t good shooting. With the extra work and just one good game, I’ll be back. I need to keep a good focus and bring good energy to the team, and try to win – that’s the most important thing.”
Mirotic’s family is temporarily in Chicago, prior to them planning to move to New Orleans, so his young son has not yet seen Mirotic in person since the facial-hair removal. A laughing Mirotic: “My son hasn’t seen me yet without the beard, so he will probably say, ‘Where is my father?’ ”
Mirotic, 27, looks years younger without the beard, prompting him to be called “Babyface” by onlookers at shootaround.
“(Teammates were saying) ‘Niko, you look way younger,’ ” Mirotic noted, smiling. “It was just fun. I need to relax a little bit, laugh and have a good time (to try to play better).”
Other notes from shootaround:
Mirotic, asked whether Davis should’ve gone through with actually shaving his unibrow, instead of merely pretending to do it: “I don’t think so. You never know. I never thought I’d shave, but then I did. Things happen. He might change his mind after he sees me (shave). But I don’t think so.” …
Davis on facing the struggling Grizzlies, one of two consecutive opponents that New Orleans will be “expected” to handle by media and fans: “It’s about us. You hear all the, ‘You should beat them.’ But we feel like we should beat everybody. But we’ve got to come in with the mindset of playing defense, and letting that lead to offense.” …
The five-time All-Star attributed his performance in the past two losses to simply missing shots he should make. Davis went 14/36 from the field combined vs. Cleveland and Oklahoma City, while committing four turnovers against the Thunder.
“I’m just missing a lot of shots. I’m trying to get back into a rhythm,” he said. …
Despite the four-game losing streak, eighth-place New Orleans is in position to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2015 and even has control of its own destiny in terms of finishing ahead of the likes of both San Antonio (45-33) and Oklahoma City (45-34). Davis referenced the fact that the Pelicans’ fate remains in their hands – but they must win all or nearly all of their final five games for that to remain the case.
“It’s fun,” Davis said of his team’s current situation. “I haven’t been to the playoffs in three years. This whole process is fun for me and the whole team, knowing that we, one, control our own destiny and two, have a chance to go in the playoffs and make some noise.”