Pelicans stun Lakers with huge comeback win: 3 takeaways

Trey Murphy III was the next man up for the New Orleans Pelicans

Though the Pelicans haven’t gotten consistent bench play from any one guy, they have had a multitude of players step up at different times in the season.

The previous two games it was Jose Alvarado, whose energy, defense and dribble penetration were huge for the Pels.

Last night, it was Trey Murphy II, who took over the game for a stretch in the 3rd quarter after getting hit with possibly the weakest technical foul I’ve ever seen in my many many years of watching professional basketball.

The Pels’ broadcast team (best in the league, by the way) were livid and should have been. This was a playoff atmosphere and you hit a guy with a technical FOR THAT? LeBron does worse 3-4 times in every game and never gets T’d up.

It backfired for the Lakers, because that call seemed to light a fire under Trey Murphy III, who was suddenly everywhere, hitting 3-pointers, scoring through contact off the bounce, getting clutch offensive rebounds and taking charges.

He scored 16 points in the 3rd quarter to lead New Orleans, finishing with 21 in his best game of the season.

You have to give coach Willie Green credit for keeping some of these guys motivated, prepared and confident enough to have games like that late in the season after being out of the rotation.

It’s been a “next up” approach for the Pels all season and coach Green has done a masterful job of keeping his guys ready.