Pelicans inch closer to play-in with blow out of Spurs: 3 takeaways
It didn’t take long for the New Orleans Pelicans to take care of the San Antonio Spurs on the road last night.
The Pels went up 35-10 in the first quarter and never looked back, using efficient 3-point shooting and a full team effort to dispatch of the Spurs.
The Pelicans had six players in double figures and got contributions from all over, which they needed with Brandon Ingram still out with a hamstring injury. They were led by CJ McCollum and Jonas Valanciunas, but also got big nights from Jaxson Hayes and Naji Marshall.
Both Devonte’ Graham and Jose Alvarado played through injuries, and the latter added eight points, five assists, six rebounds and three steals in his 22 minutes.
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The Spurs have been slumping, and the Pels were able to put 2.5 games between them and the Portland Trail Blazers, who have also been in a free fall.
It was a big win for the Pels, who have two more tough upcoming road games against the Hawks and Hornets.
Here are three takeaways from a crucial game for the play-in tournament.
New Orleans Pelicans: Getting by without B.I.
The Pelicans have mostly been lost without Brandon Ingram this season, winning for just the 4th time with him out of the lineup.
Ingram did not make the road trip with the team, so his hamstring injury must be worse than we had originally hoped.
That makes his target date for return the March 24th home game against the Chicago Bulls, which kicks off a three game home stand that includes these Spurs again as well as the Los Angeles Lakers.
If New Orleans can just make it through these next two games and maybe get a split, they could put the Spurs away and chase down the Lakers on their next home stand and head into the home stretch at full strength and with some momentum.