Zion Williamson scored 34 points and handed out 10 assists, Brandon Ingram scored 26 points and the short-handed New Orleans Pelicans defeated the visiting Indiana Pacers 125-118 on Friday night.
Jordan Hawkins scored 23, Brandon Boston Jr. had 14 and Jose Alvarado 12 for the Pelicans, who played without four of their top players — Dejounte Murray (hand surgery), CJ McCollum (adductor), Herbert Jones (shoulder) and Trey Murphy III (hamstring).
Indiana’s Ben Sheppard scored 20 points, Bennedict Mathurin had 19, Pascal Siakam 16, Aaron Nesmith and Myles Turner 12 each and T.J. McConnell 10. Tyrese Haliburton logged 11 points and 11 assists as Pacers lost for the fourth time in five games..
Alvarado scored four points during a 10-2 run to start the third quarter as the Pelicans bolted from a halftime tie to a 72-64 lead.
Sheppard’s 3-pointer pulled the Pacers even at 78, but Boston made two 3-pointers and Hawkins had a 3-pointer and a three-point play to help New Orleans take a 95-89 lead at the end of the third quarter.
Indiana pulled even at 100 on two free throws by Mathurin early in the fourth quarter. Williamson’s basket put the Pelicans back on top, but Siakam’s 3-pointer gave the Pacers a 105-104 lead.
Williamson’s three-point play gave New Orleans a 112-105 edge with 4:26 to go. Indiana trailed by one point with two minutes left, but baskets by Williamson and Hawkins sandwiched a Mathurin trey.
New Orleans’ Yves Missi drove for a layup to create a six-point lead with 51.6 seconds left, and the Pelicans ended a three-game losing streak.
Four Pacers scored as the visitors raced to an 11-2 lead less than three minutes into the game. Four Pelicans scored during a 10-0 run that gave New Orleans a one-point lead.
The lead changed hands 11 times in the first quarter and the score was tied three times, the last time 35-35 to end the period.
The Pacers began the second quarter hot and grabbed a 53-40 lead. They were up by 13 a second time before New Orleans scored 11 consecutive points.
A basket from Siakam ended the run before the Pelicans scored six straight. Indiana pulled even at 62 entering halftime.
