Eric Bledsoe has been one of New Orleans’ best three-point shooters this season, at over 40 percent, but he wasn’t hitting for much of Saturday’s game. That is, until the fourth quarter. The offseason trade acquisition connected on a series of big baskets down the stretch, helping New Orleans pull away from Memphis and post its season-high third straight victory.
The Pelicans trailed by seven points with seven minutes remaining, but outscored the Grizzlies 23-7 from there. That stretch began with Bledsoe canning a three-pointer at 6:47 to cut the deficit to 102-98.
“I thought we did a great job, knowing that when (the Grizzlies) went up, we stayed poised and grinded it out, came away with a big win,” Bledsoe said of the comeback, unintentionally using a word closely associated with the Memphis franchise.
“This one was impressive to me for our guys,” Van Gundy said of Saturday’s victory. “Sixth game in nine nights, all six games against teams who are currently .500 or better… so it’s not like you ran into a weak schedule. To close it out like that in the fourth quarter… just a big, big-time win.”
IT WAS OVER WHEN…
Lonzo Ball glided in for a left-handed layup to give New Orleans a 115-104 lead with just under two minutes remaining, capping a game-sealing stretch for the Pelicans. Bledsoe later tossed an alley oop to Zion Williamson for the punctuation mark and the final margin with about 30 seconds remaining.
PELICANS PLAYER OF THE GAME
It was no coincidence that when Ball started warming up from three-point range last season, so did New Orleans. The Pelicans may hope they are seeing a repeat from 2019-20, with the point guard in the midst of a hot stretch that continued Saturday. Ball helped ignite New Orleans, particularly in the opening half, going 4/6 from deep and totaling 16 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. The UCLA product is now a blistering 13/22 on treys during the team’s three-game winning streak vs. Phoenix, Indiana and Memphis.
BY THE NUMBERS
51.7: New Orleans shooting percentage from the field. It was the third straight game the Pelicans shot over 50 percent.
28-18: New Orleans edge in the fourth quarter. It had been either a one- or two-point Grizzlies lead at the end of each of the first three periods (33-31, 61-60 and 91-90).
13/39: Memphis three-point shooting. The Grizzlies cooled off considerably after an opening quarter in which threes allowed them to shake off a rough first few minutes and calling a quick timeout.
Revisiting three keys to victory
STAY HOT FROM THE ARC
New Orleans was ranked near the bottom of the NBA in three-point percentage, but over the past seven games, the Pelicans are a top-half club, right around 40 percent during this 5-2 stretch. They were 15/33 against the Grizzlies, led by Brandon Ingram’s 5/8 performance and four treys apiece by the starting guards.
PROTECT THE BALL ON OFFENSE
Excellent work. The Pelicans committed just 10 turnovers, five in each half. The Grizzlies only converted a total of 12 points off those miscues.
STOP THE BALL ON DEFENSE
The early defense against Ja Morant was fine, but the Pelicans allowed too many drives by other Grizzlies at times, including the methodical Kyle Anderson. Down the stretch, however, the Grizzlies couldn’t get much going on offense, a key to swinging the outcome in favor of the Pelicans. Morant struggled again overall vs. New Orleans, as he did in his Rookie of the Year campaign, shooting just 5/14 from the field.
