Dejounte Murray appears to be getting the best out of the New Orleans Pelicans.
The Pelicans will get another chance to show off their improved form on Thursday when they face the visiting Los Angeles Clippers for the second consecutive day.
Playing in his ninth game since making his season debut last month after recovering from a ruptured Achilles tendon, Murray dished out a season-best 11 assists and added 17 points as New Orleans rallied from a poor start to earn a 124-109 home victory over Los Angeles on Wednesday.
Saddiq Bey scored 25 points and Trey Murphy III added 23 as the Pelicans (24-46) increased their home winning streak to six games.
Zion Williamson scored 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field in 28 minutes while continuing to show durability by playing in 43 of New Orleans’ past 44 games. He is shooting 61.4% in the stretch, slightly better than his 59.3% mark for the season.
Murray missed Monday’s victory over the Dallas Mavericks because of an illness but remained effective against the Clippers.
At 9 1/2 games out of a play-in tournament spot with 12 games remaining, the Pelicans won’t extend their season. But they are looking more like the team the front office thought it would have when it traded an unprotected first-round draft pick this year to land rookie center Derik Queen in June.
“We are sprinting through the finish line,” Pelicans interim head coach James Borrego said. “The goal is to build momentum. I’m really proud of the group that they’ve bought into that. They’re not giving in to the season (or the challenges) within a game.”
The Clippers (34-35), meanwhile, were the hottest team in the NBA from the start of January through the All-Star break and continued their success even after trading James Harden and Ivica Zubac. But Wednesday’s loss was their third in a row, leaving them 7-7 since Feb. 20.
Kawhi Leonard returned from a one-game absence because of a sprained left ankle to score 25 points with eight rebounds and reach 5,000 boards for his career. He added to his Clippers franchise record with his 46th consecutive game of at least 20 points.
But toe injuries kept a pair of new roster additions out of action for separate games over the past week. Darius Garland, acquired from the Cleveland Cavaliers at the trade deadline last month, did not play against the Chicago Bulls on Friday, and Bennedict Mathurin was out Wednesday.
Los Angeles head coach Tyronn Lue tried using Kris Dunn off the bench for the first time in 63 games, but following his game plan across the roster proved difficult. Los Angeles led by 18 points in the first quarter Wednesday before it was locked in a tie at halftime and then went down by as many as 20 in the fourth quarter.
“It was Zion getting left, getting left, Saddiq Bey getting right, getting right, Dejounte getting right, so we didn’t pay attention to details as far as how we needed to guard them,” Lue said. “But they played well.”
