Field Level Media
Jan 31, 2020
Zion Williamson scored 24 points to lead eight New Orleans players in double figures as the host Pelicans routed the Memphis Grizzlies 139-111 on Friday night.
It was the first meeting between Williamson, the No. 1 overall pick in last summer's NBA Draft, and No. 2 pick, guard Ja Morant, who scored 16 for the Grizzlies.
All-Star forward Brandon Ingram followed Williamson with 20 points, Lonzo Ball scored 19, Jrue Holiday had 18, JJ Redick 16, Josh Hart had 11 points and 11 rebounds and E'Twaun Moore and Nicolo Melli scored 10 each.
New Orleans coach Alvin Gentry got his 500th career victory.
Jonas Valanciunas scored 18 to lead the Grizzlies, who saw their four-game winning streak end. Memphis lost for just the third time in 14 games, but two of those losses are to the Pelicans, who ended the Grizzlies' seven game winning streak with a 126-116 road victory Jan. 20.
Jae Crowder scored 15, Kyle Anderson had 14, Josh Jackson had 13 and Dillon Brooks and Tyus Jones had 10 each for Memphis.
Holiday scored eight points as New Orleans increased its seven-point halftime lead to 18 less than halfway into the third quarter.
Ingram and Redick made consecutive 3-pointers and the lead grew to 26 with three minutes left in the third.
The Pelicans scored 44 points in the quarter, their 11th 40-point quarter of the season, to take a 110-86 lead.
The Grizzlies played without forward Jaren Jackson Jr. and guard Marko Guduric as they served the one-game suspensions that they were given by the NBA as disciplinary action for their involvement in an on-court incident late in Memphis' 127-106 win over the Knicks on Wednesday at Madison Square Garden.
Nine Pelicans played in the first quarter and all of them scored as New Orleans took a 31-22 lead at the end of the period.
The Pelicans led by as many as 16 points in the second quarter before Valanciunas led a Grizzlies charge.
He scored nine of his 11 first-half points in the final five minutes as Memphis closed within 66-59 at halftime.
--Field Level Media