The New Orleans Pelicans had a chance to go on a three-game win streak, but fell 123-111 to the Miami Heat on Wednesday night.
It was too little, too late for the New Orleans Pelicans as they cut the Miami Heat's lead down from 17 to 4 late, but a horrible final minute led to a 123-111 Heat win.
The Pelicans now fall to 15-41 on the year and fail to push it to three games in a row before the All-Star break. Now the players will get some time off as their next game is in nine days.
James Borrego consistently has this team fighting despite the losing season, but they fell once again, as this is still not a winning basketball team. There's going to be a lot of work to be done this offseason.
The main thing to watch from this game will be watching what happens with Trey Murphy. He left the game early with a shoulder injury. He eventually returned to the bench but was ruled out and never returned to the court.
If there was a time to suffer a shoulder injury, it would be right before the All-Star break, but that doesn't guarantee that he will return once the team gets back.
It's a good sign that he came back to the bench at all. More news should be available soon from the team.
The best thing from this game for New Orleans was Jeremiah Fears. He's been much, much better since coming off the bench. The numbers don't jump off the page, but the consistency does.
Coming into this game, Fears was averaging +2.6 in the +/-. On Wednesday, he finished as a +8. As a starter, he had the lowest of any rookie and averaged -6.4.
The rookie guard finished this game with 13 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists with two steals and just one turnover. He was inefficient from the field, but it was still an overall positive outing.
Nothing else really stood out. It was a poor shooting night for both teams. The weight of the season and the prospect of the break were clear to see in the players on the court.
The Pelicans' next game will be at home against the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday, February 20. Fears and Derik Queen will have a trip to Los Angeles for the Rising Stars tournament, though, keeping them a little busy during this break.