Facing a must-win situation, the New Orleans Pelicans responded on Monday against the Grizzlies to come away with a 109-99 win.
Zion Williamson saw his minutes restriction extended as he closed the game. Both he and Brandon Ingram came up with huge buckets in the fourth to stave off the Grizzlies and pick up a sorely needed win.
The Good: The fight
The general consensus amongst the entire team coming into Monday’s game was that it was a must-win contest. The team came out and played just like that from the first tip. The surest sign of how serious they were taking the game was that they were the ones to jump ahead early in the first after falling behind by double digits in each of the first two games.
Throughout the contest, the team kept fighting, answering each Memphis one with a run of their own. And it was everyone that chipped in from Brandon Ingram and Jrue Holiday in the starting lineup to Josh Hart and JJ Redick off the bench.
Honorable mentions: JJ Redick’s clutch shots, Josh Hart’s toughness, Jrue Holiday’s defense, Zion Williamson closing the game, Late-game offense, defense on Ja Morant, Brandon Ingram
The Bad: Free throw shooting
Fortunately, the Pelicans executed down the stretch because they struggled mightily at the line. New Orleans finished 24-of-39 from the line and many of those misses came in the fourth quarter.
Interestingly, it was typically reliable players that missed shots. JJ Redick missed a pair in the fourth quarter while Brandon Ingram, who 86% free throw shooter, shot just 6-of-10 from the line.
It was one of the only areas that team didn’t look great. Outside of that and maybe interior defense, where the team allowed 48 points in the paint and 35 total to Jaren Jackson Jr. and Jonas Valanciunas, the Pelicans looked nothing like the team that played the first two games.
The Ball: Return to form
After two generally unimpressive games to start play inside the bubble, Lonzo Ball looked something much closer to his old form. He finished the night with seven points, six assists and four rebounds with four steals as well.
Ball shot 2-of-7 from the field with all those attempts coming behind the line. It’s not going to help his shooting percentages but he was a much better game offensively from Ball.
Defensively, Ball and Holiday did a terrific job containing Ja Morant. The rookie guard finished with just 11 points on 5-of-21 shooting from the field and 1-of-10 shooting from deept.
