Ingram, Murphy combine for 64 points, lead Pelicans to impressive 131-110 victory over Clippers

Mar 26, 2023 - 2:47 PM

New Orleans Pelicans v Los Angeles Clippers" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/IqfHfDNAg_glQjmP-EaxABUvggo=/214x220:3310x1962/1920x1080/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72116443/1249471778.0.jpg" />

The New Orleans Pelicans put together one of their most satisfying victories of the season late last night, leading the Los Angeles Clippers wire to wire and finishing on top of a lopsided 131-110 score.

Brandon Ingram was, once again, otherworldly. He followed up his first career triple-double from a few nights ago with 32 points, 13 assists and four rebounds.

This marked Ingram’s second straight double-digit assist game and kept a personal streak unblemished. When Ingram’s dropped 10 or more dimes, his team is yet to lose a regular season game. He went 2-0 during his Lakers’ tenure and improved to 8-0 last night as a member of the Pelicans.

Ingram set the tone immediately late Saturday evening, scoring six of the Pelicans’ first eight points and assisting on the other field goal. The pace he created individually seemed to permeate into the rest of his teammates’ bloodstreams.

Tyronn Lue was forced to call timeout to not only slow BI but also fire up his own team’s offense. The Clippers trailed 8-0 out of the gates.

While Los Angeles soon began amass points on the board, they failed to deter Ingram. BI proceeded to account for 28 of the Pelicans’ 37 first quarter points. However, he was far from alone in dismantling the Clippers’ defense.

Trey Murphy was as sensational as Ingram from start to finish. He connected on his first four 3-point attempts in the early goings. He wound up making a personal-best 10 3s, needing only 12 attempts to do so.

With that effort, Murphy became the second-youngest player in NBA history to make 10 or more 3-pointers in a game. Only Anthony Edwards accomplished the feat at a younger age.

Murphy also added 32 points, two rebounds and two steals.

“I thought to start the game they were faster than us,” Lue said. “They got out on transition. They created mismatches and transitions because of the way they pushed it. We weren’t able to get back and get matched. Like I said, [Brandon] Ingram came out and got to his spots early in the game. We tried to double team him, but that opened up [Trey] Murphy to get threes. You just have to pick your poison.”

CJ McCollum was wonderful in his role as a secondary scorer and playmaker, as evidenced by his line of 21 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and three 3s. He broke down the Clippers’ defense on drives really well, finishing often at the rim or just outside of that range on floaters.

Herb Jones was mighty impressive for several reasons too. An inadvertent elbow from Eric Gordon struck Jones squarely in the right eye region, but he refused to come out of the game.

“Herb is a leader,” Willie Green said. “I’ll continue to say it, it’s a blessing to have him. He shows up every day, first one there and last one to leave. He’s defending the best players night in and night out.

“He gets elbowed in the eye. He could have easily decided he was done. He looked at me with one eye, ‘Coach, I’m playing.’ It’s great to have that type of character in the locker room.”

While Jones didn’t leave the largest of imprints in the box score, he was the biggest reason why Kawhi Leonard, who has been nearly unstoppable for months, finished with 12 points on 16 shot attempts.

After a slow start — including another personal foul on the opening tip, Jonas Valanciunas posted his 39th double-double of the season with 17 points and 13 rebounds.

Josh Richardson added some much needed scoring from the bench, finishing with 13 points and three 3s, and Larry Nance Jr. and Naji Marshall brought their typical high energy.

New Orleans’ 21-point margin of victory on Saturday tied their second-largest on the road this season. They beat the Nets on opening night by 22 points (130-108) in Brooklyn and this same Clippers’ squad by 21 (112-91) on Oct. 30 in Los Angeles.

The victory was the Pelicans’ fourth straight overall, moving them back to .500 for the first time since Feb. 23. Although they have identical 37-37 records with the Lakers and Timberwolves, the Pelicans sit ninth in the standings due to faring the worst in head-to-head matchups among the three teams.

However, the Pelicans did clinch the tiebreaker over the Clippers with Saturday’s win, and they’ll have an opportunity to do the same against the Timberwolves on the last day of the regular season.

The Pelicans will play next on Monday night when they face a Portland Trail Blazers squad that has seemingly waved the white flag.

McCollum has jokes. That’s great to see. Less than two weeks ago, it felt as though the Pelicans’ season was all but over. Now the team has a really good chance to win their fifth straight and perhaps make a competitive push to avoid the play-in tournament altogether.

If Brandon Ingram continues to resemble the player we saw in the playoffs against the Suns, why not start believing in these Pelicans again?

For more Pelicans talk, subscribe to The Bird Calls podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts. You can follow this author on Twitter at @OlehKosel.