Pelicans vs. Spurs Reaction: The good, the bad and the Lonzo Ball
In a must-win game at home against the Spurs on Saturday, missed free throws, turnovers and an inability to get stops late led to San Antonio escaping with a 110-108 win over the Pelicans.
New Orleans finished the night 17-for-32 from the free throw line along with 19 turnovers that 23 Spurs points. Still, back-to-back baskets from Lonzo Ball in the fourth quarter put the hosts up 99-94.
A healthy dose of DeMar DeRozan mid-range jumpers and trips to the free throw line pulled San Antonio back ahead and New Orleans could not take back the lead as the Pelicans dropped to 4.5 games out of the play-in race.
Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson combined for 81 points on the night, the most ever by those three in a game over the last two seasons. However, the rest of the Pelicans finished with just 27 points on 10-of-27 shooting.
The Good: Pelicans core
This was, without question, the biggest game of the season for the Pelicans and one of the biggest ever for the core of Ingram, Williamson and Ball. That trio answered the bell on the night. In the first half, it was a lot of Williamson and Ball. The third quarter saw Ingram come alive and all four made huge shots in the fourth quarter. Williamson led the way with 33 points while Ingram and Ball had 24 apiece. The three combined to shoot 31-for-60 from the field. Again, they stepped up to the plate. Overreacting from one game is not something that anyone, particularly the front office, should do. But it's hard to not think positively about a potential future with the trio.
The Bad: Steven Adams and Eric Bledsoe
The new veteran additions that were supposed to help put the Pelicans over the top largely served as anchors for the Pelicans on Saturday. Bledsoe continues to have a brutal second half of the season and was benched down the stretch in favor of Naji Marshall. He finished with just six shot attempts in 23 minutes, missed both 3-pointers and had a plus-minus of negative-6. Adams, meanwhile, had problems that won't show up in the boxscore as much. On multiple occasions, he wasn't prepared for dump-off passes at the rim as he was instead looking at the rim for a rebound opportunity. Even then, he was unable to come up with rebounds down the stretch, too. The Pelicans already have spacing and fit issues with their starting five. If 2/5 of them are non-factors as well, it's extremely hard to win games.
Lonzo Ball: Big time shots
It's safe to say Ball's shot is back. After going 6-for-32 from 3-point range in the two gams on either side of his most recent injury, Ball has now gone 11-for-21 in his last three games from range, including Saturday. Ball made a number of big plays on both ends, as has been the case throughout most of the year. He finished 6-of-10 from range on the night and 9-of-16 overall for his 24 points while adding four assists and two rebounds. The negatives on the night were his last shot of the game, a missed 3-pointer with 27 seconds left that would have tied the game, and his four turnovers that were tied for team-high honors as he had a big hand in the turnover issues on the night.
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