The Pelicans couldn’t have hoped for a softer opponent to open up the second half of the NBA regular season on Thursday night, but after opening up a commanding 24-8 lead against the league-worst Minnesota Timberwolves, New Orleans was blown out over the following three quarters in an embarrassing 135-105 loss at the Smoothie King Center.
The Wolves made a late run in the first quarter to close the deficit, and went on to score 40 points in an explosive second quarter to take control of the game. Minnesota star Karl-Anthony Towns had a relatively quiet night offensively, but the Pelicans allowed bench players Jaden McDaniels and Jaylen Nowell to set career highs with 20+ point performances.
The win was just Minnesota’s eighth of the season, and the Pelicans won’t have long to figure out what went wrong, as New Orleans will play the second half of a back-to-back on Friday against Cleveland.
Here’s what fans and analysts were saying about Thursday’s game: