Pelicans dominate Mavericks, clinching season series 3-1. Missi and Fears shine as former star Naji Marshall's return falls short.
The New Orleans Pelicans took care of business on Monday night as they beat the Dallas Mavericks with ease, 129-111.
This is the final game of the season series between these two teams, and the Pelicans will take it 3-1. While New Orleans hasn't had a ton of success this season, they have had the Mavericks' number.
The Pelicans will also improve to 23-46 on the year and move on top of Dallas in the standings, as they have the same record. This further hurts the odds of the pick going to the Atlanta Hawks, which is one of the biggest goals remaining this year.
Their other goal is to build some momentum going into the offseason and get a look at how the healthy core plays together. Dejounte Murray had to miss this game due to illness. He tried to go before the game, but ended up sitting out. Just seems like bad luck, but it does hurt as he'll also have to miss one of the next two games as it will be a back-to-back.
New Orleans' players who did play all had a pretty solid night. Yves Missi slid into the starting lineup with Murray out, as their normal starting rotation does not have a regular center.
Missi finished with four points, but added 10 rebounds, five assists and five blocks. This is exactly the type of performance that the Pelicans are looking for out of him. He became just the fifth player in franchise history to have that stat line.
Jeremiah Fears continues to look great off the bench. He added 17 points, six rebounds and five assists. The biggest thing, though, is that he went 3-for-7 from deep. New Orleans desperately needs him to pick up the shooting, and he has done just that.
Fears is shooting 37% on 3.87 attempts per game since getting put on the bench. He was shooting 32% on 3.20 attempts before that.
Longtime Pelicans fans who attended got a good show as former fan-favorite Naji Marshall put up an impressive 32 points and nearly had a triple-double (eight rebounds, seven assists).
Marshall spent four seasons with New Orleans and was a great role player. He was rewarded with a three-year, $27 million deal with the Mavericks. He has far outplayed that deal this season. Always good to see players like him do well, especially when the Pelicans can still pull through with the win.
New Orleans will play the first half of their back-to-back against the Los Angeles Clippers at home on Wednesday at 7 pm CT.