For a second straight game, New Orleans was locked in a back-and-forth matchup on national TV that wasn’t decided until the final minutes. Despite playing the Mavericks fairly evenly – as they also had three nights earlier against the Raptors – the Pelicans again couldn’t pull off a victory. Dallas surged back from a 14-point first-half deficit, partly behind a 45-23 edge in the second quarter, in handing New Orleans a defeat in an ESPN game.
IT WAS OVER WHEN…
Dallas guard Delon Wright ripped the ball away from New Orleans for a clinching steal, leading to Mavericks free throws with 14 seconds left and a 121-116 edge. A few possessions earlier, Luka Doncic banked in a vital three-pointer to make it 120-113 at 1:22.
PELICANS PLAYER OF THE GAME
With much of the starting lineup struggling to make shots, Brandon Ingram led New Orleans in scoring by a healthy margin, depositing 25 points on 10/20 accuracy from the field. Ingram went 4/7 from three-point range and also notched eight rebounds and three blocks.
#FANFRIDAY
For all 14 Friday games during New Orleans’ regular season, a Pelicans fan poll question will be asked on Twitter. The first question of 2019-20 was “Which Southwest Division club has the most potential to develop a noteworthy rivalry with New Orleans in the next 3-5 years and why? Dallas received the largest share of the vote at 60 percent, followed by Memphis (21), Houston (14) and San Antonio (4). Here were some of the best responses for each team:
MAVERICKS
From @JJackz_7: Timelines are the same. They have young, growing talent with KP and Luka and Pels have Zion, Zo, BI and Jrue. They’ll have to go through each other to get to their goals
GRIZZLIES
From @Casedillas_: Star players align positions, both teams are going to be west contenders around 5 years. A lot of game 7s in those series.
ROCKETS
From @BigCheezie: Driving distance away. They have a solid team. We have a young team. Run and gun versus the step back.
SPURS
From @Chris95580075: They always seems to be the team standing between us and the playoffs. Popovich is going to keep them competitive. I think their experience could counter our youth, and make them the team in the division we have the hardest time winning against.
