The Pelicans‘ second-half surge continued on Wednesday with a 122-111 win over Toronto. Trey Murphy III had 28 points and Dejounte Murray supplied 27 as New Orleans collected its 22nd victory, surpassing last season’s win total. The Pels have won seven of their last 10 games.
“We’re trying to build winning habits every day on and off the court,” Murray told Les East of the New Orleans Times-Picayune. “Every game is a playoff game. There’s nothing like building momentum going into the offseason.”
Here’s more on the Pelicans:
- Murray has reached double-digit points in all seven games he has played since returning from his Achilles injury and has increased his scoring average to 17.6 points per game. “He’s bringing a fire and competitiveness,” Borrego said, per East. “He’s infusing confidence and fight and this group is rallying around that. It’s his shot-making, his defense, his communication, his leadership.”
- In his return to New Orleans, Raptors forward Brandon Ingram had 22 points but didn’t score in the fourth quarter. He said “everybody showed love” in his visit with his new team. Ingram said New Orleans was his home away from home after getting dealt by the Lakers in 2019. “It reminded me of home. I can say this, how ‘ghetto’ it was *laughs*. The slang. Everything. It just reminded me of home,” he told Will Guillory of The Athletic (Twitter link). “When I traveled around town, it reminded me of Kinston (North Carolina). There was connectivity from me walking in different restaurants, the love that we shared. It always felt like home.”
- Wednesday’s contest vs. Toronto began a stretch of nine of 10 games against teams that currently are in the playoffs or at least the play-in tournament, Rod Walker of NOLA.com notes. “It’s a great measuring stick to see where we’re at,” coach James Borrego said. “I think since a little before the All-Star break, we’ve played good basketball. We’ll get tested again here coming up, which is great for us. That’s where you want to be. And we’re going to treat it as such.”
Tip of the hat to a team out of play-in consideration who is going out and playing hard. Players don’t tank, coaches never tank, it’s ORGs that tank and it looks like all three are on the same page here. The Pelicans aren’t league darlings like ____________ <— fill in the blank, and as a result even more compelling than, well, you know.
Pelicans don’t have their draft pick, they traded it without any protection, so they have no incentive to tank.
Atlanta should’ve moved that pick before the deadline. It was pretty clear the Pels were bad but not top 4 bad. What could you have gotten for Trae + that pick?
New Orleans should adopt Ingram’s comment as a tourism slogan. Come visit New Orleans, you will love how ghetto it is.