Pelicans fall apart in second half in loss to Knicks | Pelicans
The New Orleans Pelicans started the month of December with an embarrassing 33-point loss to the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
When Pelicans coach Willie Green was asked before Saturday’s rematch at the Smoothie King Center if he was trying to brush off the game or learn from it, he offered this response.
“We’re definitely trying to learn from it,” Green said. “We’re not in a position to blow games like that.”
He might want to rinse the encore. Well, at least the second half, when his Pelicans let a double-digit lead slip away en route to a 104-93 loss.
The Pelicans (5-24) have now lost six games in a row and 15 of their last 16.
This was not the way the Pelicans wanted to start their 5-game homestand.
But Knicks guard Jalen Brunson torched them in the second half and kept the Pelicans from getting back on track. Brunson scored 29 of his game-high 39 points in the second half, doing to the Pelicans in this game what Mikal Bridges did to them in the first, scoring 31.
In the first meeting — a 118-85 loss — the Pelicans trailed 33-10 at the end of the first quarter and by as many as 41. The Pels shot a dismal 4 of 27 on 3-pointers in that one.
“They made shots,” Green said of the first play. “That’s what they’re capable of doing, with a team like that, you can’t get that many points.”
The 85 points that game was a season low for the Pelicans.
The Pelicans kept this one respectable. The game was tied 28-28 after the first quarter. The Pelicans started the second quarter on an 18-7 run and the third on a 13-3 run. But then Brunson got going and scored 13 straight points during a stretch to help erase the Pelicans’ 62-47 lead.
Trey Murphy led the Pels with 26 points, but it wasn’t enough to keep the Knicks (18-10) from winning their fifth straight road game.
The Pels host the Denver Nuggets on Sunday.