After Friday night’s feel-good win over Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks, the New Orleans Pelicans couldn’t keep pace with the Houston Rockets on Saturday. New Orleans lost the contest, 126-112.
On the second night of a back-to-back, New Orleans seemed to run out of gas in the game’s second quarter. The Pelicans ended the first quarter with 35-27 lead, but surrendered 48 points in the second period. They carried a 75-57 deficit into the half.
Behind a spirited third-quarter run from Zion Williamson, New Orleans managed to cut the deficit to eight, but Houston responded with 25-10 run to end the period to effectively put the game away.
It was obvious that New Orleans didn’t have the gas to pull off the comeback, as they fell behind by as many as 24 points before the reserves closed the gap in the end to make the final score a tad more respectable.
Houston was led by a 27-point, nine-rebound effort from Christian Wood. Victor Oladipo turned in 20 points, six rebounds and seven assists while John Wall ended the night with 15 points and nine assists.
New Orleans was led by Zion Williamson, who had 26 points, seven rebounds and four assists. He, unfortunately, didn’t get much help from his teammates.