Jeremiah Fears explodes for a career-best 40 points, igniting a New Orleans Pelicans franchise-record scoring barrage in the dominant win over the Utah Jazz.
The New Orleans Pelicans wanted to send the fans away in style in the final home game of the season, and they did just that in Tuesday's big 156-137 win over the tanking Utah Jazz. The Pelicans set a new franchise record with 156 points.
The Pelicans finally end their eight-game losing streak and, for the time being, move back to eighth in the draft lottery odds ahead of the Dallas Mavericks and Memphis Grizzlies.
Jeremiah Fears was the star of this game and got a standing ovation as he checked out with 40 points, five rebounds and six assists with three steals. That's a career-best, franchise record for a rookie and he became only the second rookie of his draft class to reach 40.
Fears hasn't been perfect as a rookie, but he shouldn't be asked to be, especially on a 26-54 team, but he's shown enough to have people very excited about his future. He has played in every game and flashed a ton of potential.
While the game plan was built for the rookies to shine and the entire team wanted him to get there, this was not a fluke or fake 40-point game. Fears can be an NBA scorer and has shown enough in the others to show that he will stick around in the league. This was a great draft selection for New Orleans.
Fellow rookies Derik Queen and Micah Peavy started as well, both were at least +17 in the game. Queen nearly had a triple-double with 17 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists. Peavy had a career-high 20 points on an efficient 9-of-13 from the field.
With Zion Williamson, Herbert Jones and Saddiq Bey sitting this one out, the team wanted their rookies to get the spotlight. They did just that.
Some others that haven't had much shine this year also took advantage of the extra minutes. Jordan Hawkins had 25 points on 11-of-16 from the field and Jordan Poole had 34 points with seven threes.
The Pelicans have just two more games this season, with the next one on Friday night at 6:30 against the Boston Celtics.