What if someone told you at the beginning of the season that Emeka Okafor would be a starter for the New Orleans Pelicans (30-26)? You’d probably want to put that person in the loony bin.
However, that’s what wound up happening with Okafor starting over Nikola Mirotic on Monday night. He only played for 13 minutes, but still made an impact and helped the Pelicans come away with a 118-103 win over the Detroit Pistons (27-29).
The Pelicans came out of the gates strong with Rajon Rondo draining a three, followed up by a tip-in by Okafor to make it 5-0. However, the good times didn’t last long as Blake Griffin helped get the Pistons out in front with 6:20 left in the first quarter.
After a back and forth in the second quarter, the Pelicans started to pull away late in the first half with a 14-0 run and headed into the break with a 60-52 lead.
After a slow start, the Pelicans really started to put the ballgame away with a 10-0 run late in the third quarter and got out to a 95-80 lead as they headed into the final quarter.
The Pistons attempted to fight back in the fourth and got the lead down to nine points with 8:16 left in regulation, but New Orleans was able to put the final nail in courtesy of a three-point play by Anthony Davis with 2:27 left.
The Pelicans will return to the Smoothie King Center on Wednesday when they take on the Los Angeles Lakers (23-32) with tipoff set for 7 pm.
-Clint Domingue