Hornets Sting the Pelicans with 4th-Straight Loss

There was a lot of firepower in the house for the Pelicans on Friday night. Unfortunately, sitting in street clothes as Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram helplessly watched their team get run out of the building by the Hornets 142-120.

Their third major piece, CJ McCollum, was not with the team and away for health and safety protocols. The Pelicans’ defense struggled to keep up with the Hornets’ ball movement on offense.

The Hornets, led by 2nd-year phenom LaMelo Ball, came into the game 5th in the NBA in assists and finished with 41 on the night. The Pelicans seemed a step slow on rotations to the 3-point line and secondarily to the paint.

The Hornets made 22 three-pointers on 46.8% shooting from beyond the arc. When the Pelicans weren’t breaking down defensively, they turned the ball over. New Orleans gave up 17 turnovers that led to Charlotte’s 24 fast breakpoints.

One of the lone bright spots for the Pels had to be the play of rookie Trey Murphy III. He would need to be a key contributor moving forward in Brandon Ingram’s absence, and he did not disappoint. Murphy had a career-high 32 points, including seven 3-pointers which was the most by a rookie Pelican in franchise history. Murphy’s previous game-high had been 12 points and six rebounds in a game earlier this year.

No other Pelican could match Murphy’s offensive output as they scored no more than 19 points in the contest. The team could have used more consistency, especially after a tightly contested first half in which Charlotte led 61-55 at the break.

The Hornets then asserted themselves in the 3rd quarter, outscoring the Pelicans 42-27, and never looked back. The Pelicans got it within 14 points once with about 7 minutes left to go in the game but never threatened again.

After the game, head coach Willie Green admitted the 3rd quarter was the deciding factor in this game. “Our sense of urgency and our attention to detail needed to be better. We needed to be more aggressive, running them off the 3-point line…We have to be better defensively coming out in the 3rd quarter. Giving up that many points are just too hard to overcome,” Green said.

The loss is the 4th straight for the Pelicans. Brandon Ingram is still sidelined with a hamstring strain, Zion is still recovering from his right foot injury, and McCollum in health and safety protocols will be tough sledding for the Pelicans moving forward.

New Orleans is still trying to maintain the 10th spot in the Western Conference standings, but as losses pile up, the chances of them competing for a play-in game lessen and lessen. The Pelicans look to bounce back on Sunday to host the Houston Rockets at the Smoothie King Center.