All New Orleans Pelicans fans want for Christmas is a reason to carry some hope into the New Year.
They didn’t get it on Saturday night, as the Pelicans squandered a pair of double-digit leads and lost to the New York Knicks 104-93 for their sixth consecutive loss.
Trey Murphy led New Orleans with 26 points, his seventh 20-point game of the season and fifth in his last six contests. Dejounte Murray added 14 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists.
Murphy, who came in averaging 22.5 points per game over his last four, got off to a great start, scoring 12 points in the first quarter. “Trigga” was 5-of-7 from the floor in the period as the Pelicans played the Knicks even over the opening 12 minutes.
With New York struggling offensively and Towns stuck on the bench with three early fouls, the Pels’ second unit came to life in the second quarter. With contributions from Jordan Hawkins and Brandon Boston, New Orleans built a 13-point advantage midway through the frame.
Defensively, the Pels took advantage of an uncharacteristically careless New York offense. New Orleans scored 15 first-half points off of 12 Knicks turnovers.
The offense took a nosedive over the final 6:49, with the Pelicans scoring just four points during that stretch. They were clinging to a narrow 49-45 lead at the break.
Murphy paced the starters with 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting during the first half. The remaining starters combined to go 4-for-20.
Murphy and Missi sparked an 11-3 run to start the third quarter, with Trey dunking off a Herb Jones lob to provide the punctuation.
But just as they had in the second quarter, the Pelicans offense went cold. And that’s when Jalen Brunson got hot.
Brunson scored 16 points (4-of-5 3PA) in the period as the Knicks closed the quarter on a 30-15 sprint to go up 78-75 heading into the fourth quarter.
It got so bad that “M-V-P” chants broke out for the Knicks’ guard in the Smoothie King Center. New York, which seemed to sleepwalk through the first three quarters, pulled away from the Pelicans by outscoring New Orleans 17-8 over the first seven minutes of the period.
In the end, it was another sloppy performance from the home team that sent the fans to the exits early.
Brunson finished with a game-high 39 points (29 in the second half) to lead five Knicks in double figures. Mikal Bridges added 18 points for New York and Karl-Anthony Towns managed a double-double with 11 points and 10 boards.
The Pelicans shot a paltry 41.0% on the night and committed 19 turnovers. New Orleans is 1-17 when they give it away 15 times or more this season. They were embarrassingly bad around the rim, finishing 20-41 in the paint and missing several dunks.
New Orleans will have to turn it around quickly as they face the Denver Nuggets on Sunday.
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