New Orleans Pelicans Mount 24-Point Comeback To Beat Thunder In Preseason Opener

Well, this story was about to have a far more negative spin on it (there are still some gripes), but the New Orleans Pelicans were able to erase a 24-point deficit to topple the Oklahoma City Thunder 116-110 in the preseason opener. The Pelicans win Jamahl Mosley's first-ever game as head coach.

Granted, this was New Orleans' A-Team against the Thunder B-Team, but it was still great to see the Pelicans respond to such an ugly start. It's going to take time to fully implement what Mosley and his staff are imparting to these players; no one should have expected this to look like a finished product. Seeing some of the same issues start to peek through had people worried, though.

Oklahoma was 13-of-21 from the three-point range in the first half. The spacing still looked questionable. The starting offense really had no answers. All five starters finished -20 in this game.

That unit might not be set in stone, but Mosley did trot out the lineup that made the most sense: Dejounte Murray, Herb Jones, Trey Murphy, Zion Williamson and Yves Missi. 

There was a little bit to like from Williamson's first stint. He had a nice stuff on the defensive end, plus he took two threes in 16 minutes and even made one. He was 1-for-4 from three all last year. Even bigger, the miss came before the make.

The best stuff of this game came from the second unit, as they were the ones who clawed back from the early deficit. Jeremiah Fears, Saddiq Bey, Jordan Poole, Derik Queen and Bennedict Mathurin all finished at least +17. Given the competition they were facing, they performed as they should have.

Good teams are deep teams. If New Orleans' bench could become reliable and live up to the level they are capable, this really could be the best roster they have had in a few years.

Queen hit his lone three on a shot that was nearly identical to the one that he attempted back during the scrimmage from a few days prior. That's something that he is really trying to add to his repertoire.

Mathurin had a fantastic debut, looking exactly like the player that the Pelicans were hoping to add. He had a team-high 13 points on 3-of-5 from the field and 2-of-4 from three.

Poole is someone who Mosley has spoken highly of so far, and he had a much better night. He finished with nine points on 2-of-3 from the field, 5-of-6 from the charity stripe, a steal and no turnovers.

It's never smart to lean one way or the other based off one preseason game, but it was at least nice to see the team mount and hold a comeback together.