The Pelicans on Sunday faced a badly-injured Rockets team that was without James Harden, Russell Westbrook and Clint Capela. But no win is automatic in the NBA. Work must still be put in. But the Pelicans have a bit of a flow lately and handled business. Here’s the New Orleans Times Picayune reporting:
The Rockets were forced to insert Austin Rivers and Eric Gordon into the starting lineup and dust off other little-used pieces. Somehow, their skeleton crew still set off fireworks.
Houston hit 15 3-pointers, but New Orleans countered with 18 makes of its own from behind the arc to pull out a 127-112 win. A sizzling Lonzo Ball hit seven 3s, a new career high, and E’Twaun Moore scored 25 points off the bench as the Pelicans won their fourth game in a row.
New Orleans, which outscored Houston 41-19 in the fourth quarter, has ripped off five wins in six games. It is now just 3½ games back of the eighth seed in the Western Conference.
Ball played perhaps his best all-around game in a Pelicans uniform, finishing with 27 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists.
For much of the season, the story of the Pelicans has just been wait-and-see until Zion Williamson is eventually healthy enough to make his NBA regular season career debut. And yes, that’s still the big season-long picture, but lately, New Orleans is playing solid basketball.
