The New Orleans Pelicans still have trouble closing games out as they fall 135-132 to the San Antonio Spurs, despite Derik Queen's first career triple-double. The rookie had 33 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists and four blocks.
It could have been far worse, though. When halftime came around, it felt like another in the long line of blowouts that the team wants to forget about. They scored 57 points in the first two frames, but allowed 77. The defense was nonexistent and the solid offense felt like a lost cause.
New Orleans found new life in the third quarter, though. Herb Jones and Derik Queen turned this game around.
Life on the court hasn't been too kind to Queen over the past few weeks. Going into this game, he was averaging just 10.6 points, 5.4 rebounds and 4.6 assists over the last seven games. It's fine offensive output for a rookie, but he was a -101 in those games and was getting eaten alive on defense.
Borrego was quick to bench him. The new fast-paced game that the Pelicans brought to the table wasn't working for him.
The star rookie found something that worked for him in that third quarter, though. He had just 4 points, six rebounds and three assists at the half. By the time he left the court in the third, that was up to 25, 10 and 8.
He was attacking the rim with confidence, making the right passes and actually holding his own on defense. There was a clutch block that led to a big Trey Murphy dunk to cut the San Antonio lead down to just two points.
This is the kind of game that makes the fanbase feel ok with that draft night trade that took away this year's first round pick, and rightfully so.
Jones, who had missed the last eight games, brought the defensive intensity that the team desperately needed. That burst of energy was much-needed. He had a great night, finishing with 17 points, six rebounds and four assists with four steals.
New Orleans won the third frame 45-23 and went into the final quarter up by two after trailing by 20 points at halftime.
Murphy took over down the stretch and looked like the star that the Pelicans know he can be. He finished the game with 32 points, three rebounds and four assists.
The thing is that he needs to be the person taking the last shot of the game. No matter how good Queen was down the stretch, him taking a three is not what the team needs to generate. Even if it's wide open like it was there.
New Orleans drops to 3-22 on the year.