NBA: Pelicans overcome Paul George-less Clippers, make playoffs
Brandon Ingram #14 Jose Alvarado #15 and Trey Murphy III #25 of the New Orleans Pelicans celebrate a 105-101 win over the LA Clippers during an NBA play-in tournament game at Crypto.com Arena on April 15, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. Harry How/Getty Images/AFP
Brandon Ingram scored 30 points and CJ McCollum added 19 to help the New Orleans Pelicans rally for a 105-101 victory over the host Los Angeles Clippers in a Friday night play-in game to claim the No. 8 seed for the Western Conference playoffs.
Larry Nance Jr. added 14 points on 7-of-8 shooting and collected 16 rebounds for New Orleans, which will be part of the postseason for the first time since the 2017-18 season.
Article continues after this advertisementThe Pelicans will face the top-seeded Phoenix Suns in a best-of-seven, first-round series. Game 1 is Sunday night at Phoenix.
The Clippers played without Paul George, who tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday morning.
Marcus Morris Sr. recorded 27 points and nine rebounds and Reggie Jackson added 27 points and eight assists for Los Angeles. Norman Powell tallied 17 points for the Clippers.
Article continues after this advertisement"This is what we live for, this is what we worked hard for. We ain't giving this up…YOU GOTTA FIGHT!"
Listen in to @PelicansNBA Head Coach Willie Green in the huddle heading into the 4th quarter of the #MetaQuestPlayIn.
THIS IS MOTIVATIONAL. pic.twitter.com/Iy1xMUcGRT
— NBA (@NBA) April 16, 2022
The Pelicans used a 27-7 burst to turn a 13-point, fourth-quarter deficit into a 101-94 lead.
New Orleans moved ahead at 96-94 on Nance’s putback dunk with 4:02 left. McCollum added a jumper with 3:15 remaining and Trey Murphy III had a 3-point shot hit off the front rim and bounce through to end the run with 2:08 to play.
Los Angeles responded with Powell sinking a 3-pointer and Robert Covington adding a basket to trim the deficit to 101-99 with 1:17 left.
Powell later split two free throws to bring the Clippers within 103-101 with 16.9 seconds to play before Jonas Valanciunas slammed home a dunk with 12.6 seconds left. Jackson and Morris missed 3-point attempts as Los Angeles’ season came to a close.
Murphy added 14 points for the Pelicans, who shot 48.9 percent from the field and were 6 of 22 (27.3 percent) from 3-point range.
Covington tallied 14 points for Los Angeles, which made 41.2 percent of its shots and was 9 of 36 (25 percent) from behind the arc.
The Clippers trailed by 15 late in the first half before going on a 34-6 burst spanning halftime to take a 75-62 advantage with 4:03 left in the third quarter.
Los Angeles led 84-74 entering the final stanza and pushed the lead back to 13 early in the fourth quarter before the Pelicans went on an 11-0 spurt to move within 87-85 with 8:42 remaining. Just 67 seconds later, McCollum buried a 3-pointer to knot the score at 88.
