The Pelicans’ recent dominance over the Kings is coming to an end | Pelicans

The New Orleans Pelicans swept the Sacramento Kings last season, winning all six games they played.

This included a win in the play-in tournament to secure the 8th seed in the playoffs.

The Pelicans’ stranglehold over the Kings ended with a 111-109 loss Thursday night at the Smoothie King Center.

Not even a heroic fourth-quarter effort from CJ McCollum was enough to prevent the Pelicans from losing their third straight game and the 12th of their last 13.

McCollum scored 17 of his 36 points in the fourth quarter. It was the most points scored by a Pelican this season, surpassing the 34 points scored by Zion Williamson and rookie Antonio Reeves.

The loss came against one of the NBA’s most explosive offenses in recent memory. The Kings (13-13) scored 141 points in their last game against the Utah Jazz and 140 in the game before that against the San Antonio Spurs.

The Pelicans kept the Kings under control this Thursday, but it wasn’t enough for a win.

After leading 55-53 at halftime, the Pels were outscored 38-28 in the third quarter. They had five turnovers in the quarter.

The Pelicans (6-20) were coming off a three-day break, their longest of the season. Pelicans coach Willie Green hoped this would help get his team back on track.

“We were able to attack our exercises well this week,” said Green before kickoff. “We had a chance to hit the ground running and focus on more granular details.”

However, that didn’t quite translate to the game against the Kings, where three players (De’Aaron Fox, Demar DeRozan and Domantas Sabonis) averaged at least 20 points. Sabonis scored 32 points and grabbed 20 rebounds.

The Pelicans also have three 20-point scorers, but two of them (Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram) are dealing with injuries and are out indefinitely. The other, CJ McCollum, did his part. Dejounte Murray scored 20 points but had 8 turnovers (six in the second half). A potentially game-winning shot was also blocked by Malik Monk in the final seconds.

Trey Murphy got off to a fast start, scoring 16 of his 21 points in the first quarter. It was the 11th start of the season for Murphy, who scored 26 points in Sunday’s loss to the San Antonio Spurs.

“He will show some consistency knowing that he will be on the roster in the near future and will have the opportunity to step on the floor and really show what he can do,” Green said.

The Pelicans travel to play the Indiana Pacers on Sunday.