The New Orleans Pelicans rested Dejounte Murray Saturday night.
Trey Murphy is still recovering from a shoulder contusion.
And Zion Williamson left the game in the second quarter after rolling his right ankle.
But none of that mattered as the Pelicans continued their dominance over the Utah Jazz with a 115-105 victory at the Delta Center.
It was the fourth straight victory for the Pelicans (19-42) and the second in three nights against the Jazz (18-42).
Even without most of their star players, the Pelicans had enough firepower to build a 27-point lead and then stave off a Utah rally. It was the Pels’ seventh consecutive win against Utah.
Jeremiah Fears came off the bench and recorded his second double double. Fears finished with 18 points, a career-high 11 rebounds and five assists.
“His poise, his playmaking settled us,” said [Pelicans' interim head coach James Borrego.](https://www.nola.com/tncms/asset/editorial/f954e409-47a4-44fb-8257-29a9352123a7/) “His pace. You felt him early. Especially when he rebounds like that, we’re gone. To rebound like that at his size and position just fuels our offense. And he continues to grow defensively, making havoc plays out there. I see a focused young man. I thought he was fantastic tonight.”
Saddiq Bey, fresh off Thursday’s 42-point outing against the Jazz, once again led the Pelicans in scoring with 24 points.
Herb Jones finished with 17 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.
Utah missed its first 10 shots and didn’t score a field goal until the 7:19 mark of the first quarter. The Jazz ended the first half on a similar drought, going the last 3:26 of the second quarter without scoring. The Pelicans held a commanding 65-40 lead at the break.
“A big part of the game was the way we started,” Borrego said. “We took the crowd out of the game early. They couldn’t find their energy and we built that lead into halftime.”
Despite the Pels' large lead, the Jazz managed to cut it to 89-82 early in the fourth quarter. But the Pels, just like they had done two nights earlier, answered. Bryce McGowens buried a 3-pointer to stop the bleeding. That was followed by a Fears’ floater and another McGowens’ trey to give the Pels some cushion.
“He delivered,” Borrego said about McGowens' basket. “He’s been doing that. That was a huge bucket. Maybe the biggest bucket of the game.”
The Pelicans tied a season-high with 11 blocked shots.
Murray, who returned Tuesday after missing over a year with a torn Achilles, didn’t play Saturday since it was the first of back-to-back games. The Pelicans play the Los Angeles Clippers Sunday in the third game of this six-game road trip. They finish up the trip with the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday and then back-to-back games against the Sacramento Kings and Phoenix Suns Thursday and Friday.
Borrego didn’t have an update on Williamson immediately after the game.
“Hopefully it’s nothing serious and we’ll have him back out there very soon,” Borrego said.
The Pelicans improved to 6-2 over their last eight games and are 4-0 since Jordan was inserted into the starting lineup.