The New Orleans Pelicans took advantage of a spread-out schedule to build a four-game winning streak.
They will emerge from a stretch of four games in 12 days to begin a stretch of three home games in four days when they face the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday.
The Pelicans built huge leads and held off comebacks in a home win against Indiana and consecutive road victories against Toronto, Philadelphia and Atlanta.
New Orleans led the Pacers by 36 points before winning by 27, led the Raptors by 43 before winning by a season-best 41, led the 76ers by 35 before winning by eight and led the Hawks by 22 before winning by 13.
This stretch has coincided with the resurgence of reserve forward Trey Murphy III, who scored 28 points in the victory over Atlanta, the fourth time in six games that he has scored more than 25 points.
“It’s fun to watch,” Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram said of Murphy’s run. “(It’s) right on time, especially before the playoffs.”
Murphy, who missed the first 19 games of the season because of offseason knee surgery, has shot 56.1 percent from the floor during the winning streak after shooting 36.4 percent in the seven games before that.
“That’s been the biggest thing for me my entire life. Not getting too high. Not getting too low no matter what happens,” Murphy said. “If you work hard and treat the game right, eventually things will happen for you.”
New Orleans’ past three opponents were missing at least one key player due to injury. Toronto was missing Scottie Barnes, Philadelphia was without Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey and Atlanta didn’t have Trae Young and Jalen Johnson.
The Cavaliers, who lost 117-111 to the Phoenix Suns on Monday to complete a three-game homestand, also have had injury issues.
Cleveland was missing three starters on Monday — leading scorer Donovan Mitchell (knee), who missed his seventh consecutive game, Evan Mobley (ankle) and Max Strus (knee).
The Cavaliers alternated wins and losses in the eight games before the Phoenix matchup, when they took a second consecutive setback. Included in that stretch are victories against two of the best teams in the NBA — the Boston Celtics and Minnesota Timberwolves — and losses to teams with losing records — the Chicago Bulls, Brooklyn Nets and Hawks.
Cleveland led the Suns by as many as 19 points in the second quarter but was outscored 54-41 in the second half.
“We know we’re capable of winning those type of ballgames, regardless of who we have out there,” Cavaliers guard Caris LeVert said. “After they threw a punch, I feel like we kept punching back, but they got hot and it was hard to stop them.”
LeVert was a bright spot in just his third start of the season, as he had his third double-double in his past eight games, finishing with 17 points and a game-high 11 assists along with six rebounds.
“He just makes everybody’s job easier and he’s so unselfish,” Cleveland coach J.B. Bickerstaff said of LeVert. “That’s what I love about Caris. He has an attack mindset, but it’s not attack just for him. He attacks to look and find his teammates.”
–Field Level Media