Pelicans beat Jazz, biggest comeback in franchise history | Pelicans

On By Littum

The New Orleans Pelicans won their 12th game of the season on Monday night.

None of the previous 11 wins were as unlikely as this one.

Heck, no one in franchise history has been more unlikely than this one.

The Pelicans erased a 25-point first-half deficit and rallied for a stunning 123-119 overtime victory over the Utah Jazz at the Smoothie King Center.

It was the biggest comeback in franchise history, eclipsing the 2021 win over the Boston Celtics as the Pelicans roared back from being down 24.

CJ McCollum led the way, finishing with 45 points. He scored 18 of his points in the fourth quarter and six more in overtime.

Dejounte Murray was one rebound shy of a triple double. He scored 26 points to go with his 11 assists and nine rebounds.

Trey Murphy scored 22, including a big 3-pointer with 34 seconds left that put the Pels up 121-117.

Daniel Thies came up with a big offensive rebound with nine seconds left to close it out.

It was the fourth win in a row for the Pelicans (12-32). They have now won seven of their last 10 games. That makes this win even more impressive because it came despite Zion Williamson and rookie Yves Missi not playing. Both sat out due to a non-Covid illness.

It didn’t matter though.

This was the Pels’ second win over the Jazz in four days after a 136-123 victory Friday night at the Smoothie King Center.

This one wasn’t nearly as easy as the first one.

“That’s what makes these kinds of back-to-back games unique,” Pelicans coach Willie Green said before the game. “They’re going to make some adjustments to how they play us. We have to be ready to continue to impose our will the way we want to play.”

The Jazz raced out to a 9–0 lead and led 38–19 at the end of the first quarter. The biggest deficit was 46-21 with 9:42 left in the second quarter. That lead was extended to 69-49 at the half.

But the Pelicans roared back.

The Pelicans will try to extend their winning streak to five on Wednesday when they host the Milwaukee Bucks. It would be the Pelicans’ first 5-game winning streak since the 2022-23 season. They had six different 4-game winning streaks last season, but never five.