The combination of Jaxson Hayes and Nickeil Alexander-Walker first made its mark at the professional level in Las Vegas, connecting on a Hayes soaring dunk against Chicago’s summer league team that went viral. Roughly six months later, the rookie duo delivered their best combined performance of the regular season, this time while facing the real Bulls.
The 19-year-old Hayes authored the second double-double of his rookie season, while Alexander-Walker constantly scanned Chicago’s defense and found open shooters, including Hayes rolling to the rim for slams. Alexander-Walker finished with 11 points, four rebounds and six assists in just 20 minutes; Hayes collected 14 points and 12 rebounds, the second double-double of his first pro season.
“I think the more you play, the more you understand what you can do,” Pelicans fifth-year head coach Alvin Gentry said of Hayes. “For the most part, he’s doing a great job of progressing and understanding more where his points can come from, and what he can do as far as rolling to the basket. I thought he did a really good job. It was one of his better games tonight.”
IT WAS OVER WHEN…
After New Orleans racked up 44 points in the third quarter, Chicago made a mini-run to tighten the score a bit, but the Pelicans responded by regaining a comfortable lead entering the final five minutes of regulation. JJ Redick put Chicago away by draining a three-pointer with 3:39 left, giving the hosts a 17-point lead.
PELICANS PLAYER OF THE GAME
Brandon Ingram turned in his best all-around performance since joining New Orleans this summer, nearly recording the first triple-double of his career. The fourth-year NBA forward finished with 29 points, eight rebounds and tied his career high by dishing out 11 assists. His opportunity to complete a triple-double was thwarted a bit by Chicago making the bulk of its shots in the final few minutes.
BY THE NUMBERS
18/48: New Orleans first-half shooting, which is 38 percent.
23/39: New Orleans second-half shooting, which is 59 percent.
11: New Orleans first-half turnovers, compared to only four after intermission.
8/16: New Orleans second-half three-point shooting, compared to just 7/28 in the first half.
#WESTERNCONFERENCEWEDNESDAY
New Orleans has its sights set on trying to get closer to eighth place in the Western Conference, having entered Wednesday’s action four games behind eighth-place San Antonio. It’s not as simple as just catching the Spurs, however, because there were also five teams in spots No. 9 through 13 ahead of the Pelicans. Wednesday’s conference-related poll question was “Among San Antonio, Memphis, Portland and Sacramento, which team is the most dangerous to get hot in the second half of the season?” Perhaps partly due to Portland’s uncanny track record of improving its performance over the final 20-30 games, the Trail Blazers were the overwhelming choice, banking 52 percent of the votes. As @BLAKEEBLAKEE put it, “Blazers always turn up after the All-Star break.” Memphis netted 20 percent of votes; @Andy_Russell87 noted, “The Grizz young guns just seem relentless. I know it sounds crazy.” Not really – among the large group of teams chasing eighth, Memphis and New Orleans have been the hottest in recent weeks.
