Mar 4, 2022; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; New Orleans Pelicans center Jaxson Hayes (10) reacts after dunking against the Utah Jazz in the first quarter at the Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Chuck Cook-USA TODAY Sports
Pelicans' 33-Point Shootout Win Over Spurs
The New Orleans Pelicans circled their NBA Playoffs wagons in a 33-point win over the San Antonio Spurs. Jonas Valancuinas (16 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists) scored 9 straight points to open the game and the New Orleans Pelicans held the San Antonio Spurs to 10 points in the first quarter leading to a big 124-91 road win.
This was just the third win in for the Pelicans in their 18 games without Brandon Ingram. CJ McCollum (20 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists) credited the “game plan discipline. I think Willie (Green) talks about it all the time. Being able to lock into the scouting report, understand their personnel, who you’re guarding, spacing, getting to your hand. Understanding who can shoot; who can’t. I think we were really locked in on what we needed to accomplish tonight.”
New Orleans swarmed the Spurs from the opening tip, snatching 13 steals and swatting four blocks. Herb Jones (13 points, 7 rebounds) did more work at the point of attack than the stat line suggests. The Pelicans got 50 points from the bench unit in running out to a 40 point lead late in the third quarter.
McCollum continued, “It’s a big road trip for us. I think we started how we needed to…And it starts in practice. Understanding what we want to accomplish. Being able to lock into our plays. Run things more smoothly…It was a game we won by committee. One of those games you have to figure out how to win as a unit.”
Green agreed, saying, “It’s the type of effort we want from all of our guys. Just come in, be solid, do your job and continue to trust in your teammates. Our guys did that wire to wire tonight. I think that’s what was most impressive.”
New Orleans is now 2.5 games ahead of the Spurs for the final playoff spot. The Pelicans are only 1 game behind the Los Angeles Lakers and the right to host the NBA Playoff Play-In game, not to mention the NBA Draft lottery odds at stake. That’s not this team’s concern.
As Jaxson Hayes (16 points, 8 rebounds) explained, “I feel like we’re looking at every game for the rest of the season as big games. They are all big games. We all just really locked in today before shootaround, before the game. You could tell from guys’ energy that they really wanted to come out and play today.”
With tonight's blowout win, the Pelicans increase their lead over the Spurs for the No. 10 seed in the West to 2.5 games. They're also one game back of the Lakers for the 9th seed.
This is a team locked in on their next destination, the next challenge in Atlanta. They'll see this same Spurs team in a week. As Jones told the team’s radio crew, “It feels great to kind of get your get back at a team that kind of embarrassed us on our home court. But we’ve got to move on to the next team and lock in on that team.”
