The New Orleans Pelicans defeated the Chicago Bulls 123-111 on Wednesday night inside the Smoothie King Center. The game marked the first of the season for both teams as the 2024-25 campaign got underway.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The game started with the Pelicans down a starter, as Zion Williamson missed the game with an illness. However, New Orleans was able to get early offense from a variety of players, as five different scorers made the first five buckets. The teams went back-and-forth throughout the quarter, and neither team grabbed a lead larger than six. Rookie Yves Missi made a splash for the Pelicans, and they led 29-25 after one period.
In the second quarter, New Orleans kept pace, but Zach LaVine got things going for the Bulls as well. LaVine finished the second quarter alone with 16 points. For the Pelicans, six made threes helped them along in the period and they were able to hold a 59-58 lead at the half.
The Pels got rolling in the third quarter. They held a 67-66 lead before going on a 9-0 run to take the first double-digit lead of the night at 76-66. Brandon Ingram, CJ McCollum, and Dejounte Murray paced the offense in the period, allowing the Pels to maintain their lead. Murray also completed his 2,500th assist in this contest. By the end of three, it was 95-83 in favor of New Orleans.
The Bulls did start the fourth quarter off hot, and managed to get the lead down to five points fairly quickly. However, New Orleans responded and had it back to 10 at 102-92 inside of nine minutes left.
The Pelicans got a nice performance from Javonte Graham off the bench, and he helped create some offense with good hustle in the final quarter. The Bulls made a couple of small runs, including getting to within 10 again at 117-107 inside of three minutes to play. However, NOLA did a nice job closing things out and holding on to win
BIG NUMBER: 21
The Pels got a surprising 21 combined points from Yves Missi and Javonte Graham in this game. That supplemented for some of the missing production due to injury, and helped New Orleans secure a season-opening win.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Brandon Ingram
With Zion out, Ingram had no issues stepping back into the role of being the primary scoring option for the Pelicans. He put together an effective night with 33 points on 13-23 shooting with seven rebounds as well.
UP NEXT: The Pelicans will hit the road for the first of a four game road trip when they face the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday, October 25th at 9:00 PM. The game can be seen on KXKW 32.1 over-the-air in Acadiana.