Murphy sparks Pelicans past Clippers 105-99 and New Orleans stretches home streak to 7 games

ugly 4th quarter, but you found *** way to win. Just how impressed are you with the way y’all able to scrapped this. You know, in this league, you just got to find *** way to win, right? Every, every night, it’s gonna look different, it’s gonna feel different, but the bottom line is to get the win and somehow, some way. So held them to 15, even early in that 4th, we just could not, you know, find our footing offensively. I think both teams, you know, back to back, 4th quarter. Um, there were *** lot of minutes there the last two days, but, uh, just found *** way, executed and made, made big stops, big buckets down the stretch. Thought the separator was really that two-man game between Siddiq and Murph. Um, *** couple of big plays there. Herb was fantastic down the stretch. Obviously, our two bigs helped us again, um, you know, and, um, just an overall really good team win. It’s tough to sweep, sweep these series, you know, it doesn’t matter who you’re playing, that’s *** very good team, well-coached team, and, Uh, to come out of here with 2 wins. I’m very proud of this group, 7, I think that’s 7 in *** row at home, so. And not having Dejounte, you’re still able to, you know, get things settled down and going offensively. Yeah, you know, that group has played well together, you know, and, um, you know, it settles us, you know, Herb Hanley, you got Murph out there. Sadiq and, and Z have the, the two-man game going. So we just tried to find the right matchup to close that game. I think we found *** what I’ll say is we found enough possessions down the stretch, you know, um, so, but what saved us was our fourth quarter defense in general. We just battled down there and competed defensively. You mentioned 7 straight at home, uh, teams, I think, 10 and 5 since All-Star break, 5 and 1 in the last 6. what do you attribute the, like primary factors for like this stretch of like string together wins? I’d say more than anything there’s just *** care factor, an urgency and *** belief. There’s *** mindset of this matters right now. Like we wanna get something done, we wanna be competitive, we wanna grow, we wanna get better, um, we’re taking pride every day in our film session, practice, shoot arounds, game, and just an overall mentality to finish strong and and punch through and be, um, *** team that’s moving in the right direction. And more than anything, it’s *** collective effort. All guys bought in one movement, one direction, um, obviously getting healthy helps. Let’s, let’s not, you know, I’m not gonna sugar sugarcoat that. Get Dejounte back now we have depth and size and physicality in our defense, but overall it’s been *** mindset of, um, you know, of care and playing for one another. And I think we’ve had this going on for some time now, you know, it didn’t just didn’t happen overnight in the last 6, 10 games. I think we played what, probably top 5 in clutch games all year is my guess. I think we’re probably top 5 in the amount of clutch games all year. We’ve been putting ourselves, even back then when we were losing games, we said keep putting ourselves in these positions to win games, keep battling, keep pounding the rock, and it’s led us to this moment, you know, we just didn’t flip *** switch and turn it on. We’ve been working at this for months now. And finally it’s starting to turn, but it’s been an overall commitment daily to work and to get better and to play for one another and um you know, I think that’s been the biggest factor there. The, the offense has been pretty good for, for *** while now, but it seems like there’s been *** pretty like sharp increase on defense just as the season’s progressed, um, you know, outside of the care factor, like how do you, how do you attribute like the, the success you guys are finding on the defensive end as *** late? I say *** couple of things. The physicality has picked up. Our, our, our, our intention to be *** more physical aggressive team with our hands on the ball, um, You know, we’ve set the tone on the ball. That’s Dejounte, that’s fears, that’s Herb Jones setting the tone on the ball, um, contesting every shot. Our field goal percentage defense has really picked up. We’re challenging every shot. Our 3 point percentage has really gone down as far as our opponents. Um, so we’re contesting more shots. There’s more physicality, and we have more size on the floor. You know, we’ve had, we’ve put bigger, more athletic size on the floor. We’re more switchable. Um, taking away the easy stuff. And that’s the one thing we said around the All-Star break, and we had this discussion with our team is when you look at the teams that have made significant jumps from literally within 1 or 2 years, Detroit, Phoenix, you can go down the line, Houston, Boston. They’ve done it through their defense. Those top 10 teams that are moving the needle in the Western Conference have done it through their defense. You can’t be *** bottom tier team in this league and think you’re gonna win, and it’s gotta be *** mindset every day we’re coming to work defensively, um, and more, you know, so it’s been about *** pride, it’s been about size, it’s been about physicality, and I think we simplified our defense too, you know, we’re not changing coverages *** whole lot. Um, you know, at most what we’re doing within *** game is maybe trying to take one or two players out, you know, we tried to do that last night with Kawhi and some other players, but in general we’ve tried to keep our physicality, um, at the top of the board every single night, keep it simple and stay aggressive. Obviously, you know that. You know, our, our rebounding, that’s the next step for us. I feel like we got *** hold of everything else right now. We’re not perfect, but we have *** hold of everything else. The last layer to become *** top 10 defense, which is what we’re trending towards, is the defensive board, and, um, I think, you know. Uh, the last couple of games have been pretty good examples of that.

Updated: 10:41 PM CDT Mar 19, 2026

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Trey Murphy III scored 27 points and the New Orleans Pelicans extended their home winning streak to seven games with a 105-99 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday night.Saddiq Bey had 20 points and Zion Williamson added 15 for the Pelicans, who swept the two-game set against the Clippers after 124-109 win, also at home, on Wednesday night.Dejounte Murray was held out to rest as part of his comeback from a ruptured Achilles tendon. He had 17 points and a season-high 11 assists Wednesday night in his ninth game since making his season debut last month.Derrick Jones Jr. scored 22 points, John Collins had 18 and Bogdan Bogdanovic added 16 for the Clippers, who lost their fourth in a row.Kawhi Leonard sat out a night after scoring 25 points and grabbing eight rebounds in his return from a one-game absence because of a sprained left ankle.The Pelicans trailed 94-91 with 5:53 after Collins’ floater, but Williamson made a layup and Murphy hit a 3-pointer to put New Orleans up for good as it closed with a 14-5 run.Up nextClippers: Play at Dallas on Saturday night.Pelicans: Host Cleveland on Saturday night.

NEW ORLEANS —

Trey Murphy III scored 27 points and the New Orleans Pelicans extended their home winning streak to seven games with a 105-99 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday night.

Saddiq Bey had 20 points and Zion Williamson added 15 for the Pelicans, who swept the two-game set against the Clippers after 124-109 win, also at home, on Wednesday night.

Dejounte Murray was held out to rest as part of his comeback from a ruptured Achilles tendon. He had 17 points and a season-high 11 assists Wednesday night in his ninth game since making his season debut last month.

Derrick Jones Jr. scored 22 points, John Collins had 18 and Bogdan Bogdanovic added 16 for the Clippers, who lost their fourth in a row.

Kawhi Leonard sat out a night after scoring 25 points and grabbing eight rebounds in his return from a one-game absence because of a sprained left ankle.

The Pelicans trailed 94-91 with 5:53 after Collins’ floater, but Williamson made a layup and Murphy hit a 3-pointer to put New Orleans up for good as it closed with a 14-5 run.

Up next

Clippers: Play at Dallas on Saturday night.

Pelicans: Host Cleveland on Saturday night.

Murphy sparks Pelicans past Clippers 105-99 and New Orleans stretches home streak to 7 games

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