NEW ORLEANS -- In the span of seven days, the New Orleans Pelicans have beaten two of the four best teams in the NBA and been blown off their own floor by the worst team in the NBA.

Confused? You’re not alone.

“It is [frustrating],” Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry said after a 119-103 victory at the Big Blender over the San Antonio Spurs, one of two teams left in the league with single-digit losses coming into the night and the only team to hit 20 road wins. “The only thing I keep telling these guys, and I truly believe this, is that if we play to the level we’re capable of playing, we’re capable of beating anybody. I truly believe that. This week we’ve kind of proven that with wins over the world champs and a team that has an opportunity to win a championship. That says a lot.”

Figuring out what the Pelicans are capable of, though, remains a mystery -- one that, barring any significant move ahead of the Feb. 23 trade deadline, figures to dictate whether they can climb out of the pig pile at the bottom of the Western Conference and claim an eighth seed that has been virtually anyone’s for the taking for some time.

Jrue Holiday went for 23 points and 11 assists Friday as the Pelicans blitzed past the Spurs. Derick E. Hingle/USA TODAY Sports

The one objective truth that has risen from an 0-8 start, 96 games lost to injury and illness, an 18-place difference between their offensive (26th) and defensive (eighth) rankings and a complete eschewing of their two (literally) largest players (Omer Asik and Alexis Ajinca) is that New Orleans is better when Jrue Holiday is on the floor.

Two games after boasting that he had “everything going” in a win over the reigning champion Cleveland Cavaliers, Holiday was perhaps even better against the Spurs, finishing with 23 points (10-for-17, 3-for-6 from 3), 11 assists, four rebounds, two blocks and two steals.

The Pelicans may be just 19-28 on the season, but Friday’s victory pushes them to 17-15 when Holiday plays and 8-1 when he scores 20 points or more.

“Jrue has a great feel for the game,” Anthony Davis said. “Whenever he gets going, we just kind of let him go, knowing that he’ll make the right play.”

Which is easier to do when the ball is moving like it was Friday night.

Holiday has been better than ever on the defensive end this season, with the fifth-best defensive real plus-minus among NBA point guards (1.15) serving as proof. But he has lacked the same offensive pop that he had even last season, when he finished with a career-high player efficiency rating, and his mere presence on the court made Davis, the Pelicans’ best player, even better.

With defenders often sagging off some of the Pelicans’ spotty outside shooters in their new small-ball setup, Holiday’s patient, prodding approach to running an offense is almost underserved. Tyreke Evans, who barrels through the lane first and ask questions later, has seen more success in recent games simply perhaps because his physical style isn’t as predicated by the players surrounding him. It only takes one person to send a bowling ball down the lane.

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But the passes zipped around like few other times this season with Donatas Motiejunas -- whose ball skills and size allow the Pelicans to play with the same speed and fluidity they’ve found when using smaller lineups without sacrificing as much rebounding and rim protection -- getting one of his longest looks since coming aboard after the new year. The Pelicans finished with 29 assists on 48 makes, shot 51.6 percent from the floor and put up 93 shots.

Asked what the difference was on this night, Holiday didn’t hesitate. “I’d say D-Mo. He’d swing that ball and come set a screen and follow it or whatever,” Holiday said. “It’s just contagious.”

With the defense on the move more, the best play for Holiday often was to call his own number. Davis, who owns the eighth-highest usage rate in the league, played a full game for just the second time in the Pelicans’ past nine, yet Holiday finished with six more shots.

“I feel like usually when I attack, I see two or three people and I see somebody open; that’s usually when I pass the ball,” said Holiday, who is hitting 50 percent of his 3-pointers in January. “Today, I think, [there was] a little bit of single coverage, and I knocked down a couple shots, and I guess made some plays for myself sometimes.”

The big numbers spread around too. Solomon Hill, a 33 percent 3-point shooter on the season, buried a season-high five triples. Davis tied a career-high with 22 rebounds. Motiejunas had a season-high seven rebounds. All while limiting the Spurs, the NBA’s fourth-best offense, to 38.8 percent from the field.

Balance has been the key word for Gentry all season. The Pelicans have found that of late, in the most unexpected circumstances.

Now comes the hard part: doing it two games in a row.

“We keep going back to the word consistency,” Gentry said. “We have to do it night in, night out. We can’t do it just against the great teams. We have to do it against the good teams, we have to do it against the teams that are struggling, like we are, to get into the playoffs.

“Is it frustrating? Yeah, it’s a little frustrating. But I want us to keep zeroing in on that word consistency.”