Herb Jones, Jeremiah Fears Lead Pelicans To First Win Under Jamahl Mosley

The New Orleans Pelicans have finally won a game, taking down the Sacramento Kings by a score of 132-120. This felt like a must-win matchup in front of the hometown crowd, and the Pelicans were able to pull it off. This was the first win of Jamahl Mosley's tenure, as the team improved to 1-4 on the season. 

It was a bit of a slow start again, but things picked up in the second quarter, and New Orleans never really let up from there. The Kings did start to put up some points in the fourth quarter, but the game was never really in question after 

This was a different look for the Pelicans with Dejounte Murray out due to the birth of his child (congratulations to the Murray family), and Jamahl Mosley put Herb Jones in the starting lineup. Unsurprisingly, Jones showed exactly why everyone was begging for more minutes.

Jones was a +27 on the night and played 32 minutes. Even when Jordan Poole and Murray are back, Jones should remain a priority. The team is just too much better with him on the court to justify the under 17.5 minutes per game he was getting before tonight. He finished with 16 points, four rebounds, an assist and two steals.

Another player who was able to have his best performance of the season was Jeremiah Fears. Fears finished with 22 points, eight rebounds and a career high 13 assists (a career-high).

These are the games that show why New Orleans is so invested in their young guard. It wasn’t perfect, the night as he was getting hunted on defense early on as Darius Acuff exploded for 34 points, but Fears settled in to some positive things there as well. The sophomore guard ended up blocking four shots and added two steals.

It was a cohesive night overall for the offense, as they had 32 assists. This team continues to look its best when the ball is being shared, which is something that Mosley has been preaching since the season began.

There are a ton of good lessons to learn from this win. Now time will tell how much changes when the team is healthy again. 

The Pelicans are off on Friday, but will be back at home on Halloween night for a game against the Atlanta Hawks to close out this stand. Being able to go 2-1 in this stretch would be a massive win.