By Eric Jay Santos
On Wednesday night, the New Orleans Pelicans suffered a 119-100 loss from the Portland Trail Blazers. Zion Williamson was ruled out of action as a precaution, having played the previous night for the first time since injuring his hamstring in early November.
The Trail Blazers dominated throughout the Williamson-less match, holding a 33-point lead by halftime. Deni Avdija led Portland’s scoring efforts with 26 points, followed by Shaedon Sharpe’s 21-point performance. Deandre Ayton controlled the paint, totaling a game-high 13 rebounds.
On New Orleans’ frontcourt, CJ McCollum and Dejounte Murray combined for 43 points on 58-percent shooting. The rest of the lineup failed to generate substantial offense. The Pelicans’ shortcomings can be attributed to first-half mistakes, as the team committed 11 turnovers and went 16-for-43 in field goal attempts.
Head coach Willie Green gave an honest assessment of his team’s performance.
“All of us were surprised by the lack of urgency. It was not a competitive game by our standards at all,” Green told reporters postgame. “They came out and punched us in the mouth right away, and we couldn’t recover.”
