New Orleans did not provide details last night on the Hawks floor, still in a tough situation, deprived of Trae Young, Jalen Johnson, Onyeka Okongwu then Saddiq Bey during the match. The Pelicans must maintain the pace to stay on track in the West and have therefore done what is necessary to make the match easier, successfully banking on a big start.
Zion Williamson burst the screen in the first act, with a counter on Vit Krejci, 8 points including a dunk in transition to conclude an 11-3 for his team and create a first gap (18-26) at the end of the 1st quarter. time. But what next about Trey Murphy III's show of force? The luxury joker of Willie Green scored 13 points in a row including three 3-point baskets and a dunk for a 13-2 which sent the Hawks to the ropes in the space of four minutes (24-42).
The Murray-Bogdanovic duo tried to revive hope with big 3-pointers before the break (42-53), but New Orleans held on. With once again Zion Williamson at the helm to score twice, Herb Jones to place a dunk after an interception, and two long shots from CJ McCollum who found the target, then imitated by the untenable Trey Murphy III to reconstitute a comfortable advantage (55-74).
The responses behind the arc from Dejounte Murray and Saddiq Bey at the third quarter buzzer only created an illusion (65-80). And the Williamson-Murphy tandem did not fail to bring them back to reality from the start of the last act with one more 3-pointer for Trey Murphy III and three baskets for Zion Williamson including a new lightning dunk (72-93) . After a final dunk from Zion Williamson, Atlanta faced the facts: New Orleans was too strong in this match, and won 116-103 without much difficulty.
WHAT YOU MUST REMEMBER
– An attack that is running at full speed. The Pelicans' attack shone again last night, notably with a superb 3-pointer (14/27 or 52% success), symbolized by the current form of Trey Murphy III in the exercise (6/13). The collective also performed well since 8 players scored 6 points or more, for 32 assists in total. The other sign of the good health of the group emerges in the stats line of Brandon Ingram, the “go-to-guy” of the team who turned into a creator to make the others shine, with 10 assists for 7 points. Comfortable leader of the Southwest division, New Orleans can hope to be the pleasant surprise of this end of the season in the West, with a fourth place still achievable a little over a month from the end of the regular season.
– Saddiq Bey hit in the knee. The winger had just slammed a 3-pointer at the third quarter buzzer from the corner, and barely more than a minute into the fourth quarter, everything changed. Caught in his momentum on the counter-attack, the former Pistons player suffered a nasty twist in his left knee and found himself on the ground for long moments, visibly in pain. He still took his two shots before returning to the locker room. The results of the examinations will reveal more about the condition of his knee after this hyperextension, which is quite worrying at first glance.
