Pelicans stay hot at home, hold off undermanned Clippers

Trey Murphy III scored 27 points and Saddiq Bey added 20 as the New Orleans Pelicans earned a 105-99 victory Thursday for their second home win in two nights against the short-handed Los Angeles Clippers.

Zion Williamson scored 15 points and Yves Missi added 11 points with 11 rebounds. New Orleans (25-46) was without Dejounte Murray, who was given a day of rest after playing 30 minutes Wednesday.

After falling 27 games under .500 after the All-Star break, the Pelicans -- who have won seven straight at home -- are 10-4 since Feb. 21.

Derrick Jones Jr. scored 22 points and John Collins added 18 with eight rebounds as the Clippers' losing streak reached four games, their longest since a five-game skid in December. Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 16 points and Isiah Jackson had 13 as Los Angeles (34-36) fell to 0-2 on a three-game road trip.

The Clippers were without their top three scorers in Kawhi Leonard (ankle), Darius Garland (toe) and Bennedict Mathurin (toe). Leonard, who entered as the sixth-leading scorer in the NBA at 28.2 points per game, has missed two of the last three contests.

The Clippers led by two late in the third quarter before the Pelicans grabbed an 87-84 advantage heading into the fourth.

A Bogdanovic 3-pointer with 6:32 remaining gave the Clippers their largest lead of the second half to that point at 92-89. The Pelicans regained control with a 9-0 run for a 100-94 lead with 4:14 remaining in a surge that included two 3-pointers from Murphy.

After the Clippers' Brook Lopez missed a pair of free throws, a Williamson dunk and two free throws from Murphy put New Orleans up 104-97 with 2:11 left and the Pelicans finished off the win from there.

Despite missing their main scoring options, the Clippers were competitive early, with the Pelicans leading 55-52 at halftime. Murphy scored 19 points for New Orleans, which shot 52.5% over the first two quarters. Jones and Collins each had 12 points at the break for Los Angeles.

--Field Level Media