Pelicans dismiss Trail Blazers easily in 124-90 rout
Mar 28, 2023 - 4:24 AMWith the Portland Trail Blazers missing their top four scorers, it would have been easy to not get up for tonight’s matchup. Since getting dismantled by the Los Angeles Lakers though, the New Orleans Pelicans have not lacked for bountiful amounts of energy and focus.
Monday’s 124-90 victory was exactly what fans wanted to see for a Pelicans team playing on the first night of a road back-to-back and credit another fantastic start.
“I liked that fact that we came in and just took care of business,” Willie Green said. “We know the Trail Blazers are down guys, but it was important for us to respect our opponent. Come out, execute on both ends of the floor and we did that for 48 minutes.”
The Pelicans jumped out to a 30-12 lead in the first ten minutes. They did it by attacking the paint. New Orleans had scored more points in the lane (14) during that stretch than the Trail Blazers had totaled on the board (12), smartly looking to punish a smaller, unfamiliar Portland starting lineup on the inside.
That race stayed closer than usual for most of the game. By the end of the third quarter, the Trail Blazers had 55 points for the game; meanwhile, the Pelicans had tallied 44 of their 89 points inside the paint.
first name: Brandon. last name: Ingram. pic.twitter.com/gSCbaKHwLg
— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) March 28, 2023
Setting the tone out of the gates, once again, was Brandon Ingram, who posted 13 points, two rebounds and two assists in the first quarter.
“It’s a testament to BI’s character and his hard work” Green said. “He’s in the gym putting the effort in. He puts time in with his teammates. It’s great to see it all come together at the right time. Tonight, we needed to come in right away and take care of business and get ready for the next game.”
Ingram also stepped up to the plate towards the end of the second quarter when a scoring drought hit the team.
The Pelicans had gone more than five minutes without adding a single point. Although their lead only dwindled from 22 to 14, no one wanted to see the Trail Blazers’ confidence grow any higher and turn this into a game. Enter Ingram, who scored the first five points of a 9-0 Pelicans’ run to close out the first half.
New Orleans’ defense held Portland to 35 first-half points, the lowest by an opponent in any half against the Pelicans all season. That effort continued in the second half, limiting the Trail Blazers to 20 points in the third quarter.
A big reason for Portland’s overall quiet night was Herb Jones, who singlehandedly shut down rookie Shaedon Sharpe. Sharpe, who had scored 24, 24 and 29 points in his previous three games, couldn’t even run into field goal attempts. Jones denied him the ball beautifully, and when Sharpe did have possession, he never could find a seam.
Sharpe didn’t score his first bucket until a few minutes into the third quarter. He didn’t get his second until there was 7:03 left in regulation, with Jones’ night long finished.
Brandon Ingram paced the Pelicans with 29 points, six rebounds and four assists. His shooting efficiency was on point again, knocking down 12-of-19 field goals.
Jonas Valanciunas finished with another double-double and his 21 rebounds was a season high. It’s the 11th time that he’s grabbed 20 or more boards in a game in his NBA career.
CJ McCollum (17 points, eight assists), Trey Murphy (16 points) and Herb Jones (seven points, four assists) were solid offensively, leading to fantastic plus-minus stats for all five starters.
Speaking of the starting lineup, they all played less minutes than on average. That’s good because a date against the Golden State Warriors looms in less than 24 hours.
With the Pelicans having won five straight, to move a game over .500, and playing really good basketball, let’s hope they now get a little greedy. If they can steal one in San Francisco on Tuesday and/or maybe beat the Nuggets in Denver on Thursday, the Pelicans will be poised to finish this season much, much higher in the standings than anyone had predicted less than two weeks ago.
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.
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