With a 96-87 victory over the New York Knicks on Saturday night, with Brandon Ingram scoring 26 points, Zion Williamson adding 24, the New Orleans Pelicans maintained their perfect record thus far in the NBA season.
A multitude of mid-range pullups, turnarounds, and fadeaways by Ingram that allowed Williamson to be a force down the court in each of New Orleans' first two games, where he scored at least 22 points.
Story of the game:
The Knicks were limited to 6-of-20 shooting by the Pelicans in the opening 12 minutes of play, and they were forced into 8 turnovers.
Julius Randle and Jalen Brunson propelled New York to the second round of the playoffs in the spring. New Orleans kept that pair in check on Saturday. Randle finished with 10 points on 4 of 15 shots, while Brunson scored 14 points on 4 of 14 shots despite scoring a team-high 31 points for the Knicks against the Hawks on Friday night.
Jordan Hawkins, a rookie for New Orleans, scored three 3-pointers in the first half after coming off the bench. Hawkins extended New Orleans' advantage to 17 points with a hotly contested 3-pointer from the right corner with 4:44 left in the second quarter.
For the Knicks, who had won in Atlanta the night before, RJ Barrett scored eighteen points, but the team seemed to tire in the fourth quarter.
Josh Hart, a former Pelican, finished an 8-0 run with a 3-pointer to bring the Knicks to within six points late in the third quarter. However, Ingram managed to keep them at a distance by making two challenging jump shots to end the quarter.
On the other hand, early in the fourth quarter, Jonas Valanciunas' first eight points of the game ignited a 10-1 run that put the Pelicans ahead 85-69. From there on out, New Orleans led comfortably.
Twelve points came from CJ McCollum, ten from Herb Jones, and three steals. While Mitchell Robinson, a native of the New Orleans region, pulled down 15 rebounds for New York.
Unlike the night before the Knicks' field goal percentage was a dismal 36.7%. They made just 33 field goals as a unit.
But the story of the night is the fact the Williamson and Ingram are cooking and looking real good. Together, Williamson and Ingram made 23 field goals. During their four plus years together, it was one of their best games as a unit.
Up next for the Knicks is a trip to Cleavland on Tuesday night, while the Pelicans host the Warriors on Monday.