The New Orleans Pelicans remain near the bottom of the Western Conference standings, but they’re making progress.
The team has won two consecutive games since starting point guard Dejounte Murray made his season debut after rehabilitating from Achilles surgery.
Murray had 17 points, nine assists and four steals in a 129-118 victory at the Utah Jazz on Thursday and the two teams will meet again Saturday in Salt Lake City. However, Murray will sit out the rematch.
“It’s amazing,” forward Saddiq Bey, who scored a season-high 42 points Thursday, said of Murray’s immediate impact. “He really controls the tempo and controls the pace. To see him play at this level as soon as he got back is great.”
Murray’s contributions added to improvement the Pelicans already had shown recently. They are 3-0 since veteran center DeAndre Jordan moved into the starting lineup after not playing since late October and have won five of their last seven.
The team is 8-6 since top defender Herb Jones returned from injury and interim head coach James Borrego opted to keep Bey in the starting lineup and bring rookie point guard Jeremiah Fears off the bench.
“We’re tougher, we’re more defensive, we’re bigger and we’re able to get stops,” Borrego said of the revamped lineup.
New Orleans is hopeful of getting more key players back. Leading scorer Trey Murphy III (shoulder) will sit out Saturday but center Yves Missi (calf), whose absence led Borrego to roll the dice with Jordan, is listed as questionable.
“It’s very complicated right now and it’s about to get more complicated in the next game or two,” Borrego said. “But it’s a good problem. We’ve been waiting for this. It’s a puzzle that I’ve got to figure out night to night.”
Utah head coach Will Hardy has his own puzzle to figure out, but his is due to fewer players being healthy, not more.
Leading scorer Lauri Markkanen (hip) joined the players on the sideline Thursday and is expected to miss two weeks, while second-leading scorer Keyonte George (ankle) missed his sixth consecutive game. George is questionable for Saturday.
Standout Jaren Jackson Jr. played in just three games after being acquired in a trade with Memphis before undergoing season-ending knee surgery, and leading rebounder Jusuf Nurkic had season-ending nose surgery.
Despite being forced to move players from the bench into the starting lineup, Hardy found reserves who gave the team a lift against the Pelicans.
New Orleans used a 41-23 second-quarter edge and a 10-0 spurt to start the second half to take command and led by as many as 27 points before the Jazz fought back and wound up outscoring the Pelicans 57-51 in the second half.
“I thought that last group and for the majority of the second half, the team really competed,” Hardy said. “For us to come out and win the second half, I was really pleased with that group. The game got away from us in the second quarter with some sloppy play on offense and not much resistance on defense.”
The Utah bench outscored its counterparts 61-38 as three reserves scored in double figures — Brice Sensabaugh (20), Svi Mykhailiuk (14) and Elijah Harkless (11).
–Field Level Media
