Jeremiah Fears Leads New Orleans Pelicans To Win Over Mavericks On His Birthday

The New Orleans Pelicans returned to the court on Wednesday night as they won a road game 101-97 against the Dallas Mavericks, improving to 2-1 in their preseason games.

There weren't as many Mavericks starters sitting as there were against the Oklahoma City Thunder to open up the preseason, but none of the following Dallas players played: Cooper Flagg, Daniel Gafford, Dereck Lively, Morez Johnson Jr. or Santi Aldama. A few more sat, but the point is that the Pelicans didn't face a full squad.

Unlike that game against the Thunder, though, New Orleans' key contributors were able to play like they should have against a bunch of depth and role players. The Pelicans couldn't shoot the broadside of a barn for the most part, but most of the operational stuff looked better.

New Orleans looked a bit more patient on defense, disrupted players (21 combined steals plus blocks) and had a few stars stand out.

While Jamahl Mosley didn't sit a ton of players (Dejounte Murray still didn't play), they didn't have a normal starting lineup either. Mosley used his third combination of the preseason: Jeremiah Fears, Bennedict Mathurin, Saddiq Bey, Karlo Matkovic and Yves Missi. Zion Williamson, Trey Murphy and Herb Jones all came off the bench.

It appears as though Mosley is (smartly) using these games as ways to test out different rotations and lineups rather than who is going to be starting when the season opens next week. This game should provide a lot of good film.

They were in the drivers seat for most of this game despite shooting 45% from the field and 30% from three. Murphy isn't going to go 0-for-5 from three every game. Not to single him out, though, as most of the team struggled from the field. Derik Queen was 1-for-9, though he made up for it in effort with 11 rebounds and two steals.

The star of this game, though, was Fears on his 20th birthday. He was playing like he was in a good mood all night long. Over 20 minutes, he led the team with 16 points (2-for-3 from deep), three rebounds, five assists and three steals.

Fears has looked like he's ready to take that sophomore leap all preseason. The hard work from this offseason is paying off.

Jaron Pierre Jr. also deserves a bit of a spotlight as well, as he has certainly looked like he belongs in the NBA so far. He put up another 10 points and two rebounds. He is an electric scorer, carrying that over from the end of his college career.