NEW ORLEANS — CJ McCollum scored 27 of his 32 first-half points, Brandon Ingram shook off foul troubles to add 27 points and the New Orleans Pelicans defeated the San Antonio Spurs in a Western Conference play-in game Wednesday night with 113:103.
The Pelicans, who finished ninth in the West 3-16 after the season started, will play the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday night, with the winner getting eighth place and a spot against the top-ranked Phoenix Suns in the first round. New Orleans beat Los Angeles in three of four games this season.
The Pelicans looked set for defeat, leading 96-75, with 10:39 to go, but the 10th-ranked Spurs used a 16-1 run over the next 5:25 to cut to 97-91. The Pelicans missed seven consecutive shots during the run.
Ingram hit a pair of soft jumpers in the lane and Jonas Valanciunas added a short jumper to put New Orleans back on top, 103-91. Valaciunas had 22 points and 14 rebounds.
Devin Vassell led San Antonio with 23 points. Dejounte Murray had 16 points on 5-of-19 shooting.
After Ingram had to go 5:17 on the bench with three fouls before half-time, McCollum carried the Pelicans offensively. In a 14-4 run through the final 3:36 of the half, McCollum made two 3-pointers and pierced the San Antonio defense for two finger roll layups on powerful drives into the lane as New Orleans took a 61- 50 lead built up.
McCollum made 10 of his first 12 shots, including 2 of 3 from long range, despite consistently drawing doubles.
https://nypost.com/2022/04/14/mccollum-ingram-lead-pelicans-to-play-in-win-over-spurs/ McCollum and Ingram led the Pelicans to a play-in win over the Spurs
