Big weekend in New Orleans, as the rivalry against Atlanta was at its peak with the Hawks visiting the Pelicans at Smoothie King Center in the NBA, and then the Falcons heading to the Superdome to face the Saints in the NFL.
Thousands of fans flew from Atlanta to NOLA and took over the Pelicans’ arena. It paid off. Although Atlanta struggled in the first quarter, they dominated from then on, outscoring the Pelicans 67–45 over the second and third quarters to come away with a 115–98 road win, handing New Orleans its eighth straight loss at home.
European duo
The Hawks were inspired by Kristaps Porzingis’ best night as a Hawk, taking over with 28 points, along with Vit Krejci, who added 21 points off the bench with seven 3-pointers. Porzingis shot 11-of-17 from the field, and Krejci went 7-for-10 from deep.
It wasn’t just a two-man show. Fifth-year forward Jalen Johnson had 18 points, 11 rebounds, and nine assists for Atlanta, while recently extended Dyson Daniels contributed 14 points and eight boards.
The Pelicans were without Zion Williamson, who sat on the second night of a back-to-back due to left hamstring management, as well as Herb Jones, who missed his first game of the season with a back injury, and Jordan Poole, who was diagnosed with a mild left vastus lateralis strain on November 7.
“We just could not generate physicality on any side of the ball,” said Pelicans interim head coach James Borrego. “It’s frustrating... to score against that team we needed to turn them over, and obviously we had a hard time doing that.”
New Orleans started three rookies for the first time this season — Derik Queen, Jeremiah Fears, and Micah Peavy — as they continue trusting the development of their young core, but still fell to 2–15 on the year.