CHARLOTTE – One of the more frustrating aspects of New Orleans’ rough start to the 2019-20 season had been how often the Pelicans played in tight games, but were unable to close them in the fourth quarter. On Saturday, New Orleans was the better team in crunch time, resulting in its first road victory. Brandon Ingram delivered several pivotal buckets in the final few minutes, helping the Pelicans outscore the Hornets by a 34-24 count in the last quarter.
New Orleans prevailed despite committing 26 turnovers, an extremely rare case of an NBA team coughing up more than 20 but still winning, particularly on the road.
IT WAS OVER WHEN…
Ingram swished a three-pointer to give New Orleans a 10-point lead with just over a minute remaining. The forward ended up scoring 10 of his 25 points in the final period, spearheading the visitors with the outcome hanging in the balance.
“I mean, B.I. is a baller,” said forward Kenrich Williams, who made his first start of the season and was instrumental at both ends of the floor. “That’s our go-to guy, he and Jrue (Holiday). We want to get them the ball down the stretch and let them make plays.”
PELICANS PLAYER OF THE GAME
Moved into the starting lineup at shooting guard with Lonzo Ball missing his first game of the season, JJ Redick found his shooting touch and made numerous big hoops for New Orleans. The Duke University product had some portions of the Charlotte crowd cheering his five three-point makes (in nine attempts), as Redick finished with 22 points.
Alvin Gentry on Redick’s best game so far early in 2019-20: “I thought for the first time this season we were able to free JJ up for some open looks, that he didn’t have to force up.”
BY THE NUMBERS
15-5-3: Williams’ points, rebounds and assists. Even though Gentry said after the game that he never looks at the “Kenny Hustle” stat line, the TCU product did many things that helped New Orleans win, including his usual assortment of plays that aren’t reflected in the box score. Williams also had two steals and one block.
40.9: Charlotte shooting percentage from the field, one indication of a better defensive performance by New Orleans, which had regularly been giving up too many points.
6: Pelicans in double-digit scoring, including the entire reconfigured starting lineup plus reserve Josh Hart.
#SATURDAYSCORER
For all 14 Saturday games throughout New Orleans’ regular season, we’ll be selecting a Pelicans player we think will most exceed his season scoring average for that day’s game. Daniel Sallerson took Kenrich Williams, while Jim Eichenhofer picked Brandon Ingram. In a fan poll among four other candidates, Jrue Holiday was chosen (with 41 percent of votes).
The third Saturday contest was won by Sallerson (Williams scored 15 points, more than tripling his previous season average of 4.8), making the season standings: Daniel 2, Fans 1, Jim 0. Sallerson and Eichenhofer cannot repeat a player among any of the first seven Saturday games.
Previous winners:
Oct. 26 at Houston, Fans – Lonzo Ball (Daniel pick: Nickeil Alexander-Walker; Jim: JJ Redick)
Nov. 2 at Oklahoma City, Daniel – JJ Redick (Fans: Lonzo Ball; Jim: Jrue Holiday)
