LA Clippers head coach Ty Lue discussed his concern before Friday’s game that Zion Williamson had taken over fourth quarters against his team this season, one element of two previous New Orleans wins. In the final meeting between the two-time All-Star and Lue’s squad of 2023-24, Williamson started controlling the action even earlier, gliding and powering his way past the Clippers for paint scores. After a 34-point outing and double-digit scoring from four teammates, Williamson led the Pelicans to one of their biggest victories of the season, pulling them to within two games of the fourth-place Clippers in the Western Conference standings. Two teams currently on track to face each other in the first round of the playoffs next month played 48 minutes that were reminiscent of the postseason, but the Pelicans pulled away in clutch time.
THREE POINTS
Well-rounded bench performance.
The Pelicans have had an advantage nearly every night lately when the second unit steps onto the floor; that continued Friday with four reserves all scoring eight points or more. Larry Nance Jr. helped finish out the win with close-range buckets down the stretch and scored 12 points. Trey Murphy shot 4/9 from the arc among his 14 points, while Jose Alvarado and Naji Marshall supplied timely hoops and defense.
Not on Herb – even if he’s 20 feet away.
Herb Jones delivered one of his top defensive highlights of the season – which is saying something – when he ran from the restricted area to the top of the three-point arc to reject a Paul George trey attempt, covering roughly 20 feet of space at lightning speed. “That block was... incredible,” Willie Green described. “They don’t make a lot of guys like him.” Williamson: “It might’ve been the best defensive play I’ve ever seen Herb do... I was just in shock Herb got to that."
Quick turnaround.
New Orleans will play its third-to-last back-to-back of the season Saturday, hosting Portland at 6 p.m. That’s another reason the Pelicans’ bench is valuable, because no starter was needed for more than 35 minutes Friday, with two logging under 30 minutes. New Orleans can slice its deficit behind LA to 1.5 games, prior to the Clippers hosting Atlanta on Sunday. LA has consecutive games next week in Portland.
BY THE NUMBERS
8: Biggest lead for either team in a closely-contested first half. The Pelicans ended up with the largest lead in the latter half at 11. LA never led by more than four.
13-12: New Orleans advantage in three-pointers made vs. the Clippers. Two nights earlier, Cleveland won the category 20-4 over NOLA, tied for the second-worst three-point differential in franchise history.
7: Times Williamson has scored more than 30 points in a game this season. New Orleans has gone 6-1 in those instances. The lone loss was Wednesday vs. Cleveland (32 points).
