The New Orleans Pelicans played in front of their fans for the first time in 10 days.
It was worth the wait.
The Pelicans had a series of season-bests in a 120-94 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Monday night in the Smoothie King Center.
It was New Orleans’ largest margin of victory this season, surpassing a 143-120 home win against Portland on Dec. 11.
It was the fewest points allowed, surpassing the Spurs’ total in the Pelicans’ 104-95 victory Jan. 25 in San Antonio.
The 34 fast-break points surpassed the 29 in a 117-100 loss at Atlanta on Jan. 7.
“If we’re getting stops on defense and we’re disruptive on the defensive end that’s going to lead to good transition for us,” interim head coach James Borrego said. “This is really good evidence tonight that if you play good defense it leads to good offense.”
New Orleans had balanced offense as Trey Murphy III scored 21 points, Jeremiah Fears had 20, Zion Williamson had 18 and Karlo Matkovic and Saddiq Bey added 12 each. The Pelicans (15-40) handed a 13th consecutive defeat to the Kings (12-43), who haven’t won since Jan. 16 and are the only team in the Western Conference with a worse record than New Orleans.
The Pelicans shot 54.0 percent from the floor and the Kings shot 40.4 percent. The Pelicans entered the game 28th in 3-pointers made per game (11.1) and the Kings were No. 30 (10.5). The Pelicans made 16 of 39 and the Kings made 4 of 31.
“Contesting 3s is massive for us,” Borrego said. “Our defense has picked up. We work on it every day. No matter who we’re facing we have to play defense at a high level.”
Murphy made five 3-pointers in 11 attempts, giving him a franchise-record 23 3-pointers over a three-game stretch.
The Pelicans, who were playing at home for just the second time in 19 days, will be back in the Smoothie King Center on Wednesday to face the Miami Heat in their final game before the All-Star Break.
Rookie Maxime Raynaud led the Kings with 21 points and a season-high 20 rebounds. He had five of his team’s 19 offensive rebounds, contributing to a 50-39 overall rebounding advantage.
“The one thing I’ll probably ding the guys on tomorrow is the boards,” Borrego said. “We gave up too many offensive rebounds. That’s been an issue for us and we’ve got to clean it up.”
New Orleans leads the NBA in points in the paint (57.1) and it surpassed its average but still got outscored 70-60 there. The Pelicans offset that with a 29-10 edge in points off turnovers.
Russell Westbrook, who became the 14th player in NBA history to score 27,000 career points, finished with 17, Devin Carter had 12 and Nique Clifford 10 for the Kings.
Sacramento played without five double-figure scorers because of health issues – Zach LaVine (19.2), Domantas Sabonis (15.8), Keegan Murray (14.6) De’Andre Hunter 13.7) and Malik Monk (12.4).
The Pelicans improved to 5-4 in the nine games since Bey replaced Fears in the starting lineup, and one of the reasons for that has been the rookie embracing his role off the bench.
“Our intensity has picked up,’ Fears said. “We’ve started playing more as a team, moving the ball. Our chemistry has gotten better along the way.”
Williamson scored the Pelicans’ first six points of the third quarter, Murphy made consecutive 3-pointers and New Orleans took a 73-52 lead.
Sacramento edged its way within 15 points, but the Pelicans scored the next nine and Bryce McGowens’ 3-pointer and Matkovic’s dunk gave them an 84-60 lead.
New Orleans extended the lead to as many as 30 points before holding a 92-67 lead at the end of the third quarter.
DeMar DeRozan scored six points and Westbrook had five as Sacramento took a 20-15 lead. Fears and Williamson scored four points each and New Orleans rode a 16-6 run to build a 31-26 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The Pelicans kept rolling at the start of the second quarter as Matkovic had five points, six teammates scored and the biggest lead of the half came at 52-35. The Kings crept within nine points, but a field goal by Derik Queen and 3-pointer by Murphy started a push that left New Orleans with a 61-46 halftime lead.