Behind the Numbers: Pelicans at Spurs

10-3, 5-1: New Orleans record this season in games when CJ McCollum plays, then its mark when Trey Murphy plays. The Pelicans (15-11 overall) continue to demonstrate how potent they can be when they’re closer to full strength health-wise, as evidenced by a winning percentage of 76.9 with McCollum available and 83.3 when Murphy is in uniform. The only Murphy defeat occurred in Las Vegas against the Lakers, while McCollum is also unbeaten on the road in conventional NBA arenas (5-0), with victories at Memphis, Oklahoma City, Sacramento, Washington and Charlotte. It helps that McCollum is shooting a blistering 51 percent from three-point range in his six road appearances, while Murphy is at 44 percent on long-distance attempts in four away contests. Coincidentally, Murphy made his 2023-24 season debut Dec. 1 vs. San Antonio, scoring 18 points on 7/13 shooting. McCollum contributed 19 points and eight assists in that 121-106 home victory over the Spurs.

9-0: Via Pelicans TV statistician Tommy Cooper, New Orleans has won all nine of its games this season when it makes the same or more three-pointers than its opponent (at 5-0, the Lakers are the only other NBA team undefeated under those circumstances). Dating back to last season, the Pelicans have now won 15 consecutive games when they match or exceed their opponent’s three-point makes. Specific to three-point shooting, nine is also a noteworthy figure for a different reason: New Orleans is 14-5 when it sinks at least nine treys in a game this season, but only 1-6 when making eight or fewer. The Pelicans just cleared that threshold Friday at Charlotte, going 9/27. McCollum helped them get there by shooting 3/5 from beyond the arc in the fourth quarter, part of his 13-point period.

18: San Antonio’s franchise-record 18-game losing streak, which came to an end Friday by virtue of a 129-115 home victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. Not only did the Spurs take some pressure off of themselves by snapping that lengthy drought, but they also helped the Pelicans in the standings, dropping the Lakers (15-11) into a tie for eighth place (L.A. holds the temporary tiebreaker over NOLA based on their head-to-head win in Nevada). In Sunday’s divisional meeting, New Orleans needs to prevent San Antonio from repeating a few of the outliers it displayed Friday, including the Spurs’ elite shooting splits of 50/43/90. Over the course of the entire season, San Antonio is primarily a bottom-tier shooting squad, ranking No. 25 in field-goal percentage, No. 27 in three-point percentage and 15th in free-throw percentage.

NEW ORLEANS (15-11)

Friday win at Charlotte

CJ McCollum, Herb Jones, Brandon Ingram, Zion Williamson, Jonas Valanciunas

Notes: Jones needs eight steals to tie Baron Davis (280) for the fifth-most career steals in team history. Chris Paul is atop that list with 1,010. With 129 career blocks for New Orleans, Jones is only 26 swats away from climbing into the franchise’s top 10 for rejections (Alexis Ajinca is 10th at 155). … New Orleans has won five consecutive head-to-head games vs. San Antonio, the club’s longest-ever win streak against the Spurs. The second-longest is just two games.

SAN ANTONIO (4-20)

Friday win vs. LA Lakers

Jeremy Sochan, Malaki Branham, Devin Vassell, Keldon Johnson, Victor Wembanyama

Notes: Oddly, all of the Spurs’ four victories this season have come against West teams that currently are over .500. During a 3-2 start, they beat Houston and Phoenix (twice). … In the last five head-to-head meetings vs. New Orleans since the start of the 2022-23 regular season, the Spurs have been outscored by a total of 96 points (19.2 per game). … Key reserve guard Tre Jones (illness) was listed as questionable Saturday.

GROUP PROJECT
As third-year head coach Willie Green noted after his team won Friday at Charlotte – despite a rough evening for forward Ingram – “it’s a luxury to have so many guys who can contribute.” That’s been vital during New Orleans’ stretch of three straight victories, as seven different Pelicans have averaged at least eight points. That’s the same number of Pels who cracked double-digit scoring in their Dec. 1 home win over the Spurs.
SET THE TONE IN SAN ANTONE
One area of needed improvement from the 15-point victory against San Antonio on the first day of this month was NOLA’s first-half defense, which yielded 61 points and eight three-pointers, allowing the Spurs to stay close on the scoreboard. This time in the Alamo City, a stingier defensive performance could keep San Antonio from building confidence, after its streak-halting Friday triumph over the Lakers.
MATCHUP TO WATCH
At center, the Spurs only recently moved Wembanyama to the “five” position, previously using him at starting power forward. Sunday should be the first time the Pelicans face Wembanyama, whose lone DNP of his rookie season was the Dec. 1 trip to the Crescent City. New Orleans counters at the center spot with Valanciunas, who is on a Week 8 tear, averaging 19.7 points, 14.7 rebounds and 1.7 blocks in wins over Minnesota, Washington and Charlotte.

GET MORE NEWS HERE