McCollum and Murray lead the Pelicans to a 2nd win in 3 days over the Wizards, 110-98
WASHINGTON (AP) — CJ McCollum scored 25 points and Dejounte Murray had a triple-double to help the New Orleans Pelicans to a second straight victory over the Washington Wizards, 110-98 on Sunday night.
Murray had 14 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds for his 20th career triple-double. Trey Murphy III added 22 points for the Pelicans.
New Orleans (7-29) swept a home-and-home set with the Wizards (6-27) and moved past them in the standings in this matchup of the NBA’s bottom two teams. The Pelicans had dropped 11 in a row before winning these two games.
McCollum, who scored 50 points against Washington on Friday night, had an efficient game two nights later, going 9 of 18 from the field and 6 of 11 from 3-point range.
Kyle Kuzma led Washington with 28 points.
The Wizards were without Jordan Poole (left hip) and Bilal Coulibaly (illness). Zion Williamson (left hamstring) hasn’t played since Nov. 6 for the Pelicans, and Brandon Ingram (left ankle) hasn’t since Dec. 7.
Takeaways
Pelicans: New Orleans showed it could beat Washington in two pretty different games. Friday’s matchup was a high-scoring affair that the Pelicans won 132-120. Then they held the Wizards under 100 points.
Wizards: Alex Sarr had 18 points and 11 rebounds, acquitting himself fine in a matchup with fellow rookie big man Yves Missi (16 points, seven rebounds). Missi leads all rookies with eight double-doubles, and Sarr is tied for second with four.
Key moment
New Orleans scored 17 consecutive points at the end of the first quarter and the start of the second. That gave the Pelicans a 36-22 lead and it was never all that close after that.
Key stat
New Orleans has won back-to-back games for the first time since victories in its first two games of the season.
Up next
Both teams play at home Tuesday night, the Wizards against Houston and the Pelicans against Minnesota.
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