The New Orleans Pelicans ended the Denver Nuggets’ five-game winning streak on Friday night.
Next, they will try to halt the Los Angeles Lakers’ four-game winning streak as both teams look to sweep back-to-backs Saturday night in New Orleans.
The Pelicans had lost six in a row and nine of 10 amid a rash of injuries before recording a 101-94 win over the visiting Nuggets, who played without three-time league MVP Nikola Jokic (personal reasons).
“It’s a credit to all of our players, the character in our locker room,” Pelicans head coach Willie Green said. “I’m asking these guys to do so much. They’re giving it everything they got in practice and film.
“Our whole staff has been super supportive and together, and everybody’s working as hard as they can to go out on the floor and be as good as we can be, but also working to get guys back on the floor. So, really good win for us, especially trying to weather this storm.”
Brandon Ingram had 29 points, nine rebounds and seven assists in 37 minutes against the Nuggets. The Lakers selected him with the second overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, and he spent three seasons in Los Angeles.
“He has been big-time for us,” Green said of his team’s leading scorer. “Who knows where we would be without him on the floor right now. His contribution night-in and night-out has been at a super high level.
“He’s been seeing double teams, triple teams, picking him up full court, trying to wear him down and he’s handling all of this with grace and he’s been super supportive with his teammates. He’s minimizing the frustration out there and he’s doing a great job of leading.”
Brandon Boston Jr. scored 19 points and Trey Murphy III added 17 to supplement Ingram’s scoring.
In Jokic’s absence, New Orleans out-rebounded Denver 56-38, including 17-5 in offensive rebounds. Rookie center Yves Missi led the way for the Pelicans with a game-high and season-high 12 rebounds.
LeBron James had his career-high fourth consecutive triple-double (15 points, 16 rebounds and 12 assists) and Anthony Davis had a double-double (a season-high 40 points on 14-of-26 shooting and 12 rebounds) in the Lakers’ 120-115 win at San Antonio on Friday.
In addition to the two stars, Los Angeles had four other players score in double figures. Austin Reaves scored 19, rookie Dalton Knecht had 14, D’Angelo Russell 13 and Max Christie 11.
“It was big time for our team knowing that we can execute down the stretch,” James said. “It doesn’t always have to be just the ball in my hands and we isolate or whatever the case may be.”
Davis, who is averaging a career-high 31.1 points and has scored 30 or more points in seven of 11 games, noted the significance of the Lakers winning for the second time in six road games this season.
“We want to be just as good of a road team as we are a home team,” said Davis, who played his first seven NBA seasons with the Pelicans. “And we can’t do that if we don’t come out and compete.
“We’ve just been a different team when we’ve been out on the road. The way we compete, share the ball, play together at home, is totally different than when we (go on the road). We did that tonight.”
