After being out for much of the start of the regular season for the New Orleans Pelicans (8-6), Rajon Rondo made his debut in a Pels jersey on Monday night albeit for about five minutes. However, it was E’Twaun Moore who wound up being the key for New Orleans to get a 106-105 win over the Atlanta Hawks (2-12).
The Pelicans couldn’t get out of their own way in the first quarter, committing some poor turnovers early on to help give the Hawks a nine-point lead. The Hawks extended their lead to 14 points with five minutes left in the first half, but the Pelicans were able to get that lead down to five at the break despite some more poor turnovers late, including a bad pass from DeMarcus Cousins with 14 seconds left in the half.
The Hawks came out of the locker room strong from beyond the arc, making four straight threes to get out to a 12 point lead with 9:35 left in the third quarter. However, Moore’s strong quarter wound up getting the Pelicans within two points.
Cousins started the fourth quarter strong with four straight points to get the lead back. However, the lead would change five times before Darius Miller drained a three-ball with 28.9 seconds left in regulation to get a two-point lead. The Hawks had a chance to tie things up after a blocking foul sent Kent Bazemore to the line. However, he wound up missing one of his two free throws to help seal the 106-105 win for New Orleans.
The Pelicans will stay inside the friendly confines of the Smoothie King Center on Wednesday when they take on the Toronto Raptors (7-5) with tipoff set for 7 pm.
-Clint Domingue