Zion Williamson tallied 34 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals and the host New Orleans Pelicans held off the Los Angeles Clippers 112-104 on Friday night.
Trey Murphy III added 14 points, Brandon Ingram scored 13, Larry Nance Jr. had 12 and CJ McCollum put up 11 as the Pelicans (40-26) won the season series against the Clippers, 3-1.
Paul George scored 26, Kawhi Leonard had 23 and Norman Powell added 15 for Los Angeles (42-24), which played without James Harden (strained left shoulder) for a second consecutive game.
Williamson scored the Pelicans’ first 10 points of the third quarter and Herbert Jones added a field goal as New Orleans opened a 62-51 lead. Leonard scored four points and Terance Mann made a 3-pointer to help the Clippers get within two.
The Pelicans rebuilt the lead to six before Los Angeles pulled even at 71 on a 3-pointer by Powell. The score was tied three more times before Williamson beat the quarter buzzer with a driving layup that gave New Orleans an 82-80 lead at the end of the period.
Williamson assisted on Murphy’s 3-pointer and added a layup to start the fourth-quarter scoring and push the lead to 87-80. After Powell’s three-point play, Murphy assisted on Naji Marshall’s 3-pointer and Marshall set up Murphy’s dunk, pushing the lead to 92-83 with 10:24 remaining.
The Clippers got within four points four times before a Williamson field goal and an Ingram 3-pointer increased the lead to 105-96 with 5:37 to play.
Baskets by George and Leonard got Los Angeles within five before Nance and Williamson put the game out of reach.
Both offenses struggled during the first quarter, which ended with the Clippers holding a 22-20 lead.
Murphy and Alvarado hit 3-pointers and New Orleans took a 31-26 lead early in the second quarter. George made a triple and Mann scored four points to help Los Angeles regain a two-point lead.
Jones scored five points and Williamson added four as the Pelicans took their biggest lead of the half, 48-40. George scored four points to cut the lead in half before Williamson made two free throws to give the Pelicans a 50-44 halftime advantage.
–Field Level Media
