Trey Murphy III scored 24 points and the host New Orleans Pelicans overcame a double-digit deficit to beat the San Antonio Spurs for the second consecutive game, 109-103, on Tuesday night.
Zion Williamson had 18 points, CJ McCollum added 13, and Jordan Hawkins finished with 12 off the bench. Yves Missi had 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Pelicans, who overcame a 19-point deficit two nights after they rallied back from a 17-point hole to beat the Spurs 114-96.
Devin Vassell paced San Antonio with 20 points, Harrison Barnes and De’Aaron Fox each had 15, and Chris Paul recorded 12 points and 10 assists. Also for the Spurs, Jeremy Sochan scored 12, Keldon Johnson had 11 and Bismack Biyombo added 10 points and 12 rebounds.
New Orleans opened the fourth with six straight points, capped by a Hawkins jumper, to take a two-point lead. Sochan and Johnson made consecutive layups before two baskets by Williamson sandwiched one by Alvarado to push the Pelicans in front 91-87.
San Antonio got within two points three times before Fox’s 3-pointer gave the Spurs a 100-99 lead with just over four minutes to play. McCollum and Murphy answered with consecutive field goals, and Missi scored four points to give New Orleans a 107-100 lead with 2:15 left.
Paul made a 3-pointer to trim the lead to four with 58.1 seconds remaining, but that was San Antonio’s only points in the final 4:26.
Barnes made three 3-pointers, Paul and made and San Antonio raced to a 24-8 lead. Alvarado scored five points to help the Pelicans get within 12 points Sochan made a layup to give the Spurs a 30-16 lead at the end of the quarter.
Sochan made another layup and Stephon Castle followed with a 3-pointer as San Antonio scored the first five points of the second quarter and opened a 39-22 lead. Murphy scored nine points and New Orleans finished the quarter on a 19-6 run to get within 51-49 at halftime.
Vassell scored seven of the Spurs’ first 14 points to give the visitors a 65-56 lead early in the third quarter. The Pelicans, though, closed the gap to 83-79 by the end of the third quarter Murphy and Hawkins combined for 11 points in the period.
