The New Orleans Pelicans and the Oklahoma City Thunder had a rock fight on Tuesday night, with the Thunder taking a 104-95 victory on their home court.
The Pelicans' win streak ends at two, but it was a valiant defensive effort against a great Oklahoma City team. New Orleans now drops to 12-37 on the season.
Despite allowing the Thunder to score their third-fewest points of the season, no one on the Pelicans will be leaving with their heads held high.
Rookie Jeremiah Fears left the court with his head up, though, after he and Oklahoma City forward Luguentz Dort had an altercation. Basketball Operations Consultant Jordan Dumars had to step up to help get Fears off the court.
The rookie guard has certainly lived up to his "zero Fears" nickname this season as he has not been afraid to get into anybody's face. Dort is just the latest player Fears has left the game locked up with.
It was certainly a frustrating night for Fears as he played just 18 minutes and finished with seven points. Dort is also a very aggressive defender. Not surprising that it happened, but good it didn't progress past where it got.
The Pelicans player who will be kicking himself the most after this game will be Trey Murphy.
Murphy has become a crucial part of the New Orleans in terms of production, volume and efficiency. The volume was there on Tuesday, but nothing else was.
He finished the game with 10 points on 3-of-20 from the field, 1-of-11 from three, five rebounds and five assists. Like many of his other teammates, though, he had a great night on the defensive end. He finished with three steals and a block.
Murphy can afford nights like this with how great he has been overall this year, but still disappointing. It's hard to look at the score and wonder how it would differ if the forward even had an average night. This is a historic Thunder defense, though.
Oklahoma City also shut down the scoring of Herbert Jones, who was 3-of-12 from the field and just 1-of-9 from deep. He did have two steals and two blocks, though.
Zion Williamson had his third straight game with double-digit rebounds, finishing with ```11 boards to go with 21 points.
Again, though, the most impressive performance came from Yves Missi. He has been on a tear as of late off the bench. With his name getting thrown around in trade talks, Missi has stepped up and is making fans in New Orleans think twice about the prospect of trading him.
He had nine points, six rebounds, two assists and a whopping four blocks.
The Pelicans will have two days off and then play the Memphis Grizzlies at home on Friday at 6:30 pm CT.