Pelicans Down The Suns, Improve 2-1 In Summer League Play

The New Orleans Pelicans finished off the Suns 82-73 to improve 2-1 at the NBA 2K24 Summer League. Forward Tevian Jones led the Pelicans scoring 16 points and five rebounds against Phoenix. Karlo Matkovic recorded a 13-point, five rebounds, and three blocked shots game for a solid performance.

New Orleans opened the game with an inconsistent first quarter against Phoenix. At the two-minute mark, guard Hunter Hale scored a three-pointer, giving the Suns a 13-12 lead over the Pelicans. The lead changed hands twice during the first quarter, but New Orleans ended up leading 17-15 over Phoenix at the end of the quarter.

New Orleans hit most shots inside the paint, with only Hawkins and Seabron making three-pointers. Hawkins attempted four shots from beyond the arc but missed all but one. At the charity stripe, New Orleans knocked down 4/5 free throws. Coach Hill may not have liked the carelessness with eight turnovers. However, the club's ten defensive rebounds were positive.

END Q1: Pelicans 17, Suns 15

The Pelicans extended their lead in the second quarter when Dyson Daniels was re-inserted at the point. He kept attacking the baskets and had a power move along the baseline for an uncontested dunk close to the two-minute mark. Hawkins was 1-for-8 from the floor in the half. New Orleans held a 10-point lead at 3:52, but the Suns erased the deficit to go into intermission trailing 39-36.

END Q2: Pelicans 39, Suns 36

Key 1st-half stats for New Orleans: 13/30 for 43.3% shooting, 4/11 from 3-pt range at 36/4%, 9/13 FTs, 9 TOs, 19 Rebounds, 8 Assists, 5 points off turnovers, 16 points in the paint, 1 fastbreak point, and four personal fouls.

Key 1st-half stats for Suns: 14/39 for 35.9 % shooting, 6/18 for 33.3% for 3-pointers, 2/3 FTs, 5 TOs, 15 Rebounds, 7 Assists, 8 points off turnovers, 14 points in the paint, 11 personal fouls.

Suns took the lead 48-46 at 4:45 in the game following a New Orleans turnover. Hunter Hale and the Suns began to outplay and hustle the Pelicans. New Orleans missed six-straight shots and didn't score for 5 minutes. The Suns had a 13-0 run for just over five minutes. After trailing 54-51 with 2:03 remaining, the Pelicans reclaimed the lead 55-54 on a Dyson Daniels scoop layup. Brooks added a dunk to notch an 8-0 run by New Orleans, 57-54. Jones glided in for a sweet off-foot finger roll to end the third quarter 59-54 over the Suns.

After three periods, Baton Rouge's Frank Bartley IV had 10 points and four rebounds.

As the 4th quarter opened, the referees whistled Jordan Hawkins with the first flopping penalty against the Pelicans in the Summer League.

Matkovic and Jones were the Pelicans MVPs of the game. Yet, it was Matkovic, who missed a couple of opportunities to finish strong at the rim, made his presence felt with scoring, rebounding, and on defense. Jones drained two critical 3-pointers in the fourth quarter for New Orleans.

New Orleans held a six-point 67-61 lead with five minutes left in the contest. Dyson Daniels persuaded Coach Hill to challenge a foul.

Jordan Hawkins had a brutal shooting and ball-handling night. The Pelicans' 2023 first-round pick hit 7 points with two assists, six rebounds, and two steals; but had six turnovers.

New Orleans scored 43.5% from the floor, 36% from downtown, and 70.4% on free throws. It wasn't an overall clean evening with 20 turnovers, a category the team wanted to keep lower.

Next up for New Orleans will be Charlotte at 6:30 PM on Thursday, July 13.