NBA: Pelicans get 40 from C.J. McCollum in beating Spurs

LOS ANGELES – The talk was all about C.J. McCollum on Thursday night, and rightly so, after he stepped up when his short-handed team needed him the most in their National Basketball Association game.

The New Orleans guard scored a season-high 40 points to lead five scorers in double figures as the short-handed Pelicans defeated the visiting San Antonio Spurs 126-117.

The victory meant they improved to 19-12 and are third in the Western Conference, while the Spurs dropped to 10-21.

“We needed that type of production from him with the guys being out,” said Pelicans coach Willie Green, whose team played without leading scorer Zion Williamson (health and safety protocols), second-leading scorer Brandon Ingram, who missed his 12th consecutive game because of a toe bruise, and reserve centre Larry Nance Jr (sore heel).

“It’s beautiful to watch when he’s on the floor and he’s scoring like he does.”

Jonas Valanciunas had 16 points and 10 rebounds, Trey Murphy III scored 15 points, Willy Hernangomez 13 and Herbert Jones Jr 12 for the Pelicans, who ended a season-worst four-game losing streak.

“McCollum dominated the game from the very beginning,” Hernangomez said.

“I’m happy for C.J. He’s been really getting his rhythm back. Today was a big game for him. I’m happy to see him making shots and making the right decision over and over.”

Jeremy Sochan scored 23 points, Tre Jones added 19, Josh Richardson 14, Jakob Poeltl 13, Stanley Johnson 12 and Devin Vassell 10 to lead the Spurs, who played without top scorer Keldon Johnson (bruised back).

San Antonio pulled within 72-58 on a layup by Poeltl early in the third quarter. He scored San Antonio’s next five points as well, and the Spurs trailed 76-63 with 7min 13sec left in the period.

Eight Pelicans then combined to score the team’s final 22 points, and they took a 94-75 lead at the end of the third quarter.

Johnson scored five points as San Antonio tallied the first 10 of the fourth quarter. McCollum answered by scoring New Orleans’ first 12 points and finished with 19 in the period as the Pelicans held on.

New Orleans improved to 3-0 against San Antonio this season. The final meeting will be on March 21 in New Orleans.

“We’ll get down, figure it out and then start playing,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said.

“We don’t have somebody like a McCollum that’s going to come in and do what he did to us. We made it a decent game at that point and then he took over. He was great.”

In the only other game on Thursday, Malik Beasley netted 25 points off the bench and Jordan Clarkson scored 23 with seven rebounds to lead the Utah Jazz to a 120-112 win over the Washington Wizards in Salt Lake City.

Utah trailed by six at half-time but used a 13-0 run midway through the second half to seize control and earn a second consecutive win.

Collin Sexton, who returned to the Jazz line-up after missing seven games with a hamstring injury, sparked that game-changing surge. He scored the final five points of the third quarter and finished with 18 points in a limited 17 minutes.

“We knew the kind of energy he would bring and he’s going to fire up everybody else up as well,” Lauri Markkanen, who had 21 points, said of Sexton’s return.

Washington’s Bradley Beal led all scorers with 30 points on 13-of-20 shooting and Kyle Kuzma, who played collegiately at the nearby University of Utah, scored 21.
REUTERS