The New Orleans Pelicans were unable to extend their win streak to three straight games on Saturday night against San Antonio, falling to the Spurs 126-119.
However, there was one massive takeaway from the loss, which is that Trey Murphy III looked like the player he was expected to be heading into this season. After starting the season averaging just 14.9 points per game and shooting below 40 percent from the field, Murphy III finally bounced back tonight, tying his career high of 41 points.
Murphy III's confidence was higher than it had been this entire season; he was taking step-back threes, attacking mismatches, shooting over Victor Wembanyama, and just demanding the ball from his teammates. It felt like he understood that for the Pelicans even to have a sliver of a chance to beat the Spurs, he needed to take control and have a ridiculous offensive performance.
I really hope this performance was what Murphy III needed to remind himself that he is that dude and can be one of the league's most potent scorers on any given night. If he can use this performance as a building block to get back on track and potentially have the All-Star breakout he was expected to have, that would do wonders for the Pelicans' season.
Having a tough start to the year is only going to make Murphy III a more complete player
If there's one major takeaway I've had from Murphy III's season prior to Saturday night, it was that his shooting struggles forced him to learn how to impact the game in other ways than scoring. His ability to create for others is only going to make him more of a weapon on the offensive end for New Orleans.
Looking at some of the league's top scorers, such as Jayson Tatum and DeMar DeRozan, the next step for them after being elite scorers for their entire careers was learning how to create for others. This next step not only made them a more impactful player but also made it harder for defenses to scheme for and, in turn, made their teams stronger.
If Murphy III can use his performance against the Spurs as a way to regain his scoring touch, while using his growth as a playmaker, he could become a complete offensive weapon for the Pelicans. If that happens, the outlook on this Pelicans team for the rest of the season would be much higher than it was just a day ago.