NEW ORLEANS — The Pelicans finally looked like the team they intended to be on Thursday night.
With New Orleans’ abundance of perimeter talent, small ball always seemed like the obvious key to success this season. It’s just tough to play that way consistently without healthy bodies.
With Brandon Ingram and Herb Jones both making their long-awaited returns to the lineup, the Pelicans reclaimed their identity with personnel who could spread the floor and defend well enough to — for the first time all year — look a little bit like the team that won 49 games last season. After losing 15 of the last 16 games, the Pelicans got back to their roots with some familiar faces on the floor en route to a gritty 126-124 win over Phoenix, ending a nine-game losing streak.
“We worked on it in training camp, and it’s a group we feel comfortable putting on the floor together,” coach Willie Green said. “We thought that group could slow them down a bit, and we might have an advantage when we get stops.”
Even with Zion Williamson, Jose Alvarado and Jordan Hawkins still sidelined with injuries, the Pelicans were finally healthy enough to play some of their best players together for the first time in weeks. Jones returned to the floor after sitting out 18 games with a shoulder strain, and Ingram returned after missing the previous five games because of calf soreness.
This comes after Dejounte Murray and CJ McCollum got back on the floor just over a week ago following month-long injury absences.
Thursday night was the first time Ingram, Jones and Murray shared the floor since Murray fractured his hand on opening night. It was the first time the three of them got to play with Trey Murphy III, who strained his hamstring in training camp and missed the first 10 games of the season.
Seeing so many of the Pels’ key contributors on the floor at once was almost surreal considering how many patchwork lineups they rolled out over the past month as the losses piled up.
With most of its core back in uniform, New Orleans was able to lean into some of the strengths that made this team successful in the past. The Pelicans were disruptive on defense. They spaced the floor for their best scorers. They attacked in transition.
Green didn’t roll out the lineup featuring Murray, McCollum, Murphy, Ingram and Jones for the first time until the three-minute mark of the second quarter. But once he did, he knew he found something.
He pulled rookie Yves Missi halfway through the third quarter and played without a center the rest of the period. Meanwhile, Ingram, Murray and Jones played the entire third quarter as New Orleans went from trailing by 11 to up by 10 late in the period.
The shift allowed New Orleans to take control. It scored 45 points in the third, going 7 of 9 from the 3-point line. It was probably the most confidence this team has played with this season.
It might just be one game, but it felt like an important opportunity for the Pelicans to show what they’re supposed to look like when all the pieces (other than Williamson) come together. This should be a blueprint they can follow going forward.
“It was fun,” Murphy said. “We were able to switch everything. Run in transition. It was a different pace we haven’t seen in a little while. I’m excited to keep that going.”
While some of the bigger names will get more attention, Jones is the person who unlocks everything New Orleans is trying to accomplish with these small-ball lineups. His activity and instincts completely change what this team can do on both ends of the floor. Even after a slow start, he still filled up the box score in his first game back with 12 points, seven rebounds, five assists and four steals.
Without Jones for most of the season, the Pelicans plummeted to 28th in defensive rating going into Thursday night after finishing sixth in each of the previous two seasons.
There were a few sloppy moments in the first half, but Jones’ presence helped the Pelicans settle in on defense as the game wore on. Several of his teammates noted after the game how much his communication has improved over the years and the way it keeps everyone accountable in their defensive assignments. When there’s a crack, Jones is usually the first to identify it and address the problem.
On this play in the first half, Jones does his job by helping from the corner to stop Mason Plumlee from rolling to the rim. But he also notices that Devin Booker has been left open at the top of the key. Jones sprints out to deter Booker from shooting a 3 and commits the foul before he can get into the lane.
These plays don’t get credit in the box score, but making enough of them throughout a game can make a big difference. It’s the quiet value Jones brings on both ends that connects all the dots.
Jones can slide in at center and protect the rim in these small lineups or he can go to the perimeter and guard the other team’s best player. The Pelicans chose to put Murray on Booker most of this game, which allowed Jones to wreak havoc on the back line.
But once it was time to seal the game, Jones took the Booker assignment and blocked his final 3-point attempt before the buzzer.
HERB SEALING THE @PelicansNBA W 🔒 pic.twitter.com/rUTl4Rc9RC
— NBA (@NBA) December 6, 2024
“Every loose ball is his,” McCollum said. “He gets his hands on deflections. He’s fighting over screens. He’s communicating … As a player, he’s evolved from Year 1 to now. He’s just a heady basketball player who does things the right way, and everybody enjoys playing with him.”
The spacing these smaller lineups creates also makes life so much easier for the Pelicans top scorers, who are often at their best in isolation situations.
Ingram and Murray, in particular, are two of the best among their positions at identifying mismatches and creating great looks once they have room to operate. McCollum is capable in those situations as well.
Ingram caught fire in the third quarter as the Pelicans made their run, scoring 21 of his 29 points, including a stretch when he scored 11 consecutive points.
Earlier in the season, he was asked to carry so much of the offense while most of the main guys were out. Now that the Pelicans are more capable of surrounding him with other weapons that teams have to respect, the game will come easier to him.
Once Ingram slowed down and was held scoreless in the fourth quarter, McCollum picked up the slack, scoring 13 of his 25 points in the final period.
Having this many options on the floor will make the Pelicans a dangerous team once they have enough time to build chemistry. There will be some nights when Jones or Murphy will be too small to defend the other team’s center. Then it’ll be time to adjust. But in matchups when New Orleans can dictate the space and flow of the game, it won’t be easy to defend.
“We’re just trying to find favorable matchups and attack them. The game comes down to just being able to make a play,” McCollum said. “We played a good game and made the right decisions at the right times and gave ourselves a chance.”
There’s no need to oversell one win. The Pelicans are still a 5-18 team with an extremely difficult road ahead as they attempt to get back into the Play-In race among a long list of Western Conference contenders.
Regardless of how this season ends, the goal for New Orleans the rest of the way should be figuring out ways to succeed with all of its best players on the floor at the same time.
As much success as last year’s team had, its fatal flaw was how average it looked whenever Williamson, Ingram and McCollum were on the court together. A five-man lineup featuring Murray, McCollum, Murphy, Ingram and Jones has enough talent to compete with just about anyone in the league.
Now, it’s all about keeping them on the floor long enough to truly embrace this new identity.
“Obviously, we’re in a tough spot, and we need to speed up the learning curve a little bit,” McCollum said. “We’ve got a lot of talented players and we’re learning on the fly. … We’ve just got to go out there and compete and trust each other.”
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(Photo of CJ McCollum: Chris Graythen / Getty Images)
