Big man Jonas Valanciunas put up a season-high 29 points and also collected 13 rebounds as the New Orleans Pelicans held on to beat the short-handed Charlotte Hornets 112-107 on Friday night for their third win in a row.
Zion Williamson, who sat out Wednesday night’s game against the Washington Wizards, had a double-double with 21 points and had 11 boards in his return to the lineup and C.J. McCollum came up big in the clutch scoring 13 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter.
Terry Rozier had a game-high had 30 points and Miles Bridges added 27 points and 10 rebounds of his own for the struggling Hornets, who fell to 4-9 in front of their home crowd.
Pelicans coach Willie Green said he made sure the offense was going to run through Valanciunas after learning that the Hornets would be without starting center Mark Williams because of a back injury.
And the 7-foot, 270-pound Valanciunas responded, taking the Hornets to school and giving them all they could handle in the paint by getting Nick Richards and backup Nathan Mensah in early foul trouble. Together, they had 11 fouls by the start of the fourth quarter.
“He was excellent,” Green said. “We put the ball in his hands and he either made the right play, either scoring or getting to the free throw line 90% of the time. That is something that is a luxury for us. If we don’t have it going we can just throw it to JV.”
Embed from Getty ImagesHornets coach Steve Clifford said stopping Valanciunas is a nearly impossible task on any night, but particularly tough given the current makeup of his roster.
Not only was Charlotte without Williams, but power forward P.J. Washington, who has the ability to guard the center position, was also sidelined with an injury. It was Mensah’s first NBA game and he fouled out.
“He’s a really good player,” Clifford said of Valanciunas. “He’s been a good player for a long time. It was evident right in the first quarter there they were going to go to him a lot more than usual. He’s big and he’s physical and he really knows how to play.”
The Hornets trailed by 11 at the break, but took the lead with a late spurt in the third quarter behind the duo of Rozier and Bridges, who scored on a 3-point play and drew an all-important fourth foul on Williamson, sending him to the bench.
But McCollum, who was 0 for 5 in the first half from the field, began to warm to the task in the fourth knocking down a pair of 3s to extend the Pelicans lead to six. McCollum later added another 3 to increase the lead to 10 with 5 1/2 minutes left.
“C.J. got going at the right time,” Green said.
The Hornets still had one last run in them, and Rozier’s leaning 3-pointer from the left wing made it a one possession game with 26.5 seconds left.
Herbert Jones followed by making one of two free throws, but then got his own rebound after missing the second shot and was fouled again. This time he made both foul shots to all but seal the win.
It was another strong game for Rozier, who has averaged 28.3 points over the last seven games as he has been forced to carry the team on his shoulders with LaMelo Ball out with an ankle injury.
“I’m just taking whatever the defense gives me,” Rozier said. “I obviously want to get guys involved at the beginning, but I’ll find ways to get mine, too.”
Green said he was happy with his team’s defense on Rozier in the first half, but added “he’s a fantastic scorer.”
“He finds a way to put his team on his back and get bucket after bucket,” Green said.
Pelicans: At San Antonio on Sunday.
Hornets: Host Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday night in the second of a back-to-back.
