When you bank in a shot from 32 feet as time expires at the end of the first half, you know it may just be your night.
Brandon Ingram did that and he and his teammates did the rest in making a good night for the New Orleans Pelicans, taking down the league-leading Minnesota Timberwolves 121-107 at Smoothie King Center.
The loss snapped a six-game skid for Minnesota.
The Pelicans took the opposite fight to the team with a record and defense in the league.
Yes, Minnesota without star Anthony Edwards, but New Orleans played hard and competitive throughout.
The game’s narrative about Zion Williamson, his girth, and his lack of conditioning by the national media.
Zion had scored just 12, 10, and 13 points in three of his last four games, looking passive and slower while taking fewer than 10 shots in each of those three games.
The narrative also talked about how the Pelicans failed to compete and were defeated by the Lakers in the semifinals of the normal-season tournament.
How would Sion and the pelicans react?
The definitive, demonstrative, decisive answer.
Williamson was dominant, posting his season best 36 points in tremendously efficient fashion. Williamson was 13-of-17 from the field and 10-of-12 from the free throw line. Williamson added five rebounds and two assists and had just one turnover. New Orleans was +26 with Williamson on the floor. Zion was explosive from start to finish.
CJ McCollum scored 23 points, while Brandon Ingram had 20 points and five assists. Jonas Valanciunas was perfect with 14 points and thirteen rebounds.
Against the double-tower team of Karl Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert, New Orleans got a tie on the boards and the team completed 47 rebounds.
They reached the free-throw line, where the Pelicans outscored the Timberwolves 31-14.
Minnesota kept its reserves, which outscored the Pelicans’ bench 53-21.
The first quarter was played on even terms as the two teams played to a 29-29 tie.
New Orleans closed out the half with a score of 12-3 to take a 59-52 lead.
The Pelicans built a 15-point lead in the third quarter on Williamson’s 12 points, however, when Williamson went to the bench to rest, the Timberwolves made a great run to cut the deficit to 90-86 after 3 quarters.
New Orleans took a 99-86 lead in the fourth quarter and never threatened the rest of the way.
Minnesota had beaten New Orleans in the last two meetings between the teams, the last of which in a tough 121-120 resolution on Nov. 18 when the Pelicans squandered a lead in the fourth quarter and Ingram missed a last-second shot.
There’s no demonstration in Minnesota tonight and there’s no desire to shoot at the last second.
In fact, until the end of the game, the Pelicans had all the reserves on the field.
Now 13-11, the Pelicans begin a three-game road trip to the nation’s capital to face the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night. Then they head to Charlotte and San Antonio.
The Wizards are 3-18.
The Hornets range in age from 7 to 14.
The Spurs are 3-18.
While they’re on the road, it’s a chance for the Pelicans to take off a bit, with their key players healthy.
Of course, they want to prove that they can sustain the kind of exceptional effort shown tonight, not the one we saw in Las Vegas.
Born and raised in the New Orleans area, CCSE Executive Director Ken Trahan has been a staple of sports media on the network for about four decades. Ken NewOrleans. com/Sports with Bill Hammack and Don Jones in 2008. In 2011, the site became SportsNOLA. com. On August 1, 2017, Ken helped launch CrescentCitySports. com. Having accumulated national awards/recognitions (National Sports Media Association, National Football. . .
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