James Borrego’s first win as New Orleans Pelicans’ interim head coach will have to wait another day.
Not even the Pelicans’ best overall performance of the season was enough to deliver him one.
The Pelicans were unable to hold on to a double-digit halftime lead and fell 118-115 to the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Center.
"They got hot, they got aggressive and they became the aggressor in the second half," Borrego said. "We tried to fight our way back in there in the fourth quarter. But those third quarters are unacceptable if you want to win in this league."
Four different Pelicans scored at least 20 points, but it still wasn’t enough.
Trey Murphy finished with 25 points. Zion Williamson scored 22 and Jeremiah Fears scored 21. Derik Queen was three rebounds shy of a triple-double, finishing with 20 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds.
"They are playing really well together," Borrego said. "I was really pleased with that group other than the third quarter start."
The Pelicans (2-14) have now lost eight straight games. They’ve lost four in a row since Borrego took over as interim head coach following last Saturday’s firing of Willie Green.
The last time the Pelicans won a game was on Nov. 5 against the Mavs in this same building. But the Mavs (5-12) got their revenge Friday in what was an NBA Cup group play game. With the loss, the Pelicans are eliminated from advancing to the knockout round of the in-season tournament.
The Pelicans had a chance to tie it late, but Murphy and Queen both missed 3-point attempts in the final seconds.
Former Pelicans forward Naji Marshall buried a 3-pointer with 30.7 seconds left to give the Mavs a 116-115 lead. The Mavs scored the game’s final seven points.
The Pels lost despite building a 63-49 halftime lead. New Orleans struggled once again in the third quarter, getting outscored 36-22, which tied the game 85-85 heading into the fourth.
In the third quarter, Queen dished out his 10th assist on a nifty behind-the-back bounce pass to Murphy. Queen had seven of his assists in the first quarter to get things started. Queen is one of five rookies in franchise history to record at least 10 assists in a game, joining Chris Paul, Darren Collison, Brian Roberts and Jose Alvarado.
"Excellent first half, maybe our best first half of the season," Borrego said. "The third quarter continues to haunt us and we have to solve it."
The Pelicans play the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday at Smoothie King Center.