New Orleans Pelicans Losing Streak Ends After Minnesota Timberwolves Shut Them Down

The New Orleans Pelicans' win streak is over after the fall to the Minnesota Timberwolves 115-109 on Friday night, back below .500 at 4-5 and 0-1 in the NBA Cup standings. There's no shame in losing to the Timberwolves, a great team, but certainly frustrating given that they could have won it.

A major talking point of this game will be the fact that Herb Jones was taken out of the starting lineup with both Dejounte Murray and Trey Murphy back. It was a frustrating night overall for Jones, who finished with zero points and four rebounds, fouling out in just 14 minutes. A slow night from Jones aside, it's a choice that doesn't make much sense given everything that the team has shown so far.

It was also probably Murray's worst game of the season. He finished with just seven points on 3-of-10 from the field with two rebounds and four assists. He tied for the team low at -7 with Bennedict Mathurin (who played just seven minutes).

This game was almost never close after the Timberwolves came out of the gates swinging, but a career-best first quarter from Karlo Matkovic helped New Orleans stay competitive early. Matkovic had 16 points on 4-of-6 from three in the first frame alone. He hit his first four threes.

He wasn't able to keep that pace, obviously, but it was a glimpse into everything that Matkovic has brought to this lineup. It's not only his energy or athleticism, but his spacing opens up so much for everyone else.

Zion Williamson wasn't able to capitalize on that spacing early this time, but he is someone who should benefit greatly overall from the presence of Matkovic. This was actually Williamson's second straight game with an incredibly slow first half, but he was able to pick up the aggression again in the second half. This was also another game where he was more active on the boards, so maybe there is a trade-off.

There's a trend in the two quarters that they won and the two quarters they lost, and it's something that has been brought up time and time again this year. This team is at its best when they share the ball. They had nine assists in the first quarter and then just three in the second. The second half saw that inconsistency continue until they picked up a couple of assists late.

They couldn't find Murphy at all in the second half, as he got off just one shot in the final two quarters. 

The Pelicans head back on the road for a mini-West Coast trip, starting with a matchup against the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday night.