With an offensive explosion, the New Orleans Pelicans brought home a victory, versus the Western Conference’s current three seed in the Houston Rockets.
The New Orleans Pelicans returned home, after suffering a tough loss in Miami on Wednesday night.
Tonight’s opponent was the elite scoring team in the Houston Rockets, led by James Harden and his possible MVP campaign.
However, the Pelicans would play some of their best basketball of the season in this game. This is despite DeMarcus Cousins being sidelined with an injury. New Orleans spent tonight defeating the Rockets 128-112.
In the first quarter, the Pelicans came out of the gate on fire. Led by Solomon Hill, the Pelicans had a 36-23 lead at the end of the first. In addition to limiting the Rockets on the defensive end of the floor, the Pelicans hit seven triples.
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Second quarter action would see the lead extended by the Pelicans, even though they did not hit a single three in this quarter. In addition, the Rockets started to show their frustration as the quarter continued.
Tim Frazier seemed to get under Patrick Beverely’s skin, as the Rockets guard picked up a technical foul. Later, Ryan Anderson got hit with a technical of his own, after a no-call. Behind a strong 51.9 percent field goal percentage, the Pelicans took a 68-50 lead into the half.
Continuing the trend, quarters three and four saw more of the same, until mid way into the final period. Houston would bring the lead down to 11 late in the game. Solomon Hill would hit a dagger of a three, to set his career high in points at 30, as well as stop the momentum the Rockets had captured. From there, New Orleans would coast to victory.
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Final Thoughts
This was an impressive win for the Pelicans tonight. The team really played well on the offensive end of the floor, but also rose to the occasion on defense. The Rockets made one surge in the 4th quarter, but the Pelicans were able to absorb the blow and pull away, to capture the victory.