It had been nearly four weeks since New Orleans won a game by a comfortable margin and almost as long since it prevailed in the Smoothie King Center, but the Pelicans managed to check both boxes Wednesday. Facing a Washington team beset by player absences, New Orleans went up by 26 points in the third quarter and posted its first home win since beating Toronto on Jan. 2. It was the Pelicans’ third victory of 2020-21 by double digits, with the most recent instance coming on New Year’s Eve at Oklahoma City.
Washington star guard Bradley Beal piled up 47 points, but needed 37 shots from the floor to do so, with New Orleans devoting considerable attention to trying to contain him.
IT WAS OVER WHEN…
Zion Williamson threw down an alley oop dunk on a fast break, giving New Orleans a 117-102 lead with two-plus minutes remaining.
PELICANS PLAYER OF THE GAME
What a night for New Orleans’ pair of young starting forwards, both of whom finished with 32 points on efficient shooting. Brandon Ingram tied his career high by sinking seven three-pointers and shot 12/19 overall, while Williamson was 12/16.
As Ingram repeatedly drained jumpers, Williamson was too much to handle in the paint from the get-go for Washington’s patchwork frontcourt rotation. On one drive early in the fourth quarter, Williamson was grabbed and put to the floor by Alex Len, a play that was ruled a flagrant foul. Len eventually fouled out of the game.
BY THE NUMBERS
15: Lonzo Ball minutes played, due to the point guard exiting the game early due to an ankle sprain. Prior to leaving, Ball had one of his better games recently, scoring nine points and making Beal work for his points.
17/43: New Orleans three-point shooting, with six different Pelicans connecting at least once from the arc. The 17 treys were the second-most in a game by NOLA in 2020-21, approaching the season high of 19 at Toronto on Dec. 23.
20, 21: Williamson first-half points, then Ingram second-half points. Ingram shot 8/8 from the field in the second half, including 5/5 from beyond the arc.
Revisiting three keys to victory
REGAIN A RHYTHM
New Orleans did not look like it had been off from game action for the previous three days, starting hot from three-point range and moving the ball with precision. Playing the second game of a back-to-back but for only the third time since Jan. 12, Washington looked out of sync while trying to incorporate recent additions to its rotation such as Len and Jordan Bell.
LIMIT MISTAKES
Pretty solid. New Orleans only committed six first-half turnovers and totaled 15, an improvement compared to most recent games.
GET BACK ON DEFENSE
Washington only scored six fast-break points and did not have any until Bell’s layup with 30 seconds remaining in the second quarter.
