Valanciunas, Hart lead Pelicans past Knicks, 102-91

NEW YORK (AP) — Jose Alvarado felt proper at residence again in New York, the place the Knicks had one other tough evening in entrance of their followers.

Alvarado had an enormous recreation not removed from his Brooklyn residence and the New Orleans Pelicans beat the Knicks 102-91 on Thursday evening.

“Phrases can’t actually describe how I felt. It's simply an incredible feeling,“ mentioned Alvarado, who completed with 13 factors, 4 assists and 4 steals.

Jonas Valanciunas led the Pelicans with 18 factors and 10 rebounds. Josh Hart added 17 factors, Brandon Ingram and Devonte’ Graham every had 15 and Herbert Jones scored 11.

RJ Barrett and Mitchell Robinson every scored 17 for the Knicks, with Robinson including 15 rebounds.

New Orleans solely led 46-42 at halftime, however opened the second half on a 32-12 run, which culminated with Hart making three free throws with 3:52 left within the third quarter.

The boos, which had been raining down on the Knicks all through the sport, intensified throughout that stretch.

“It was actually like 6 on 5 on the market as a result of they have been pissed off and lacking photographs. The gang was pissed off so that they have been booing them and giving us gas,” Hart mentioned. “Often on the highway, the one guys you've got are these in our locker room. I’m not saying the followers have been on our facet, however they weren’t on their facet both.”

Alvarado had some on his facet, with teammates paying for tickets for his household. Ingram gave his jersey to certainly one of Alvarado’s youthful brothers after the sport.

“After I noticed the followers begin coming and folks that I do know and the way a lot they have been exhibiting me love, I felt prefer it was a kind of nights,” Alvarado mentioned.

New Orleans Pelicans heart Jonas Valanciunas is fouled by New York Knicks ahead Obi Toppin in the course of the second half of an NBA basketball recreation Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022, in New York. The Pelicans gained 102-91.

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The Pelicans led 81-57 heading to the fourth and went forward by a game-high 25 factors on Graham’s step-back jumper with 10:37 remaining.

The Knicks’ reserves made it look shut. Quentin Grimes’ 3-pointer with 36 seconds left introduced the Knicks inside 9 earlier than Hart’s layup ended the scoring.

The Pelicans led 27-17 after the primary quarter. Grimes’ 3-pointer opened the second quarter after the Knicks had gone 0 for six from lengthy vary within the first.

The Pelicans prolonged their result in 33-20 on Alvarado’s bucket early within the second. Nevertheless, Barrett’s 3-pointer with 2:13 left within the half capped a 17-4 stretch as New York pulled right into a 37-all tie.

Jones’ dunk put the Pelicans again within the lead on the half.

The groups mixed to shoot 18.5% (5 of 27) from 3-point vary within the first half, however the Pelicans shot 50% from the sphere whereas the Knicks have been an abysmal 34.2% (13 of 38).

Immanuel Quickley scored 14 factors, whereas Grimes and Alec Burks every had 13 for the Knicks.

Main scorer Julius Randle shot simply 1 of 9 from the sphere and scored 4 factors in New York’s third residence loss in 4 days.

“When issues aren’t going our method Julius goes to take plenty of the blame,” coach Tom Thibodeau mentioned. “However, it’s a crew recreation and we've got to get out of it as a crew. It wasn’t one specific play or incident. Issues simply weren’t going our method.”

TIP-INS:

Pelicans: Ingram moved inside one made discipline aim of Ryan Anderson for fifth place on the Pelicans’ profession checklist. Ingram now has 1,314, whereas Anderson made 1,315.

Knicks: Cam Reddish, acquired by way of commerce by New York final week, has but to make his debut attributable to a sprained proper ankle. … Ryan Arcidiacono, who joined the crew in early January, additionally has but to play for the crew attributable to a sprained left ankle.

DIDN’T GET ANY BETTER

When the Knicks beat the Pelicans 123-117 of their first assembly of the season on Oct. 30, it represented the excessive level of New York’s season up to now. The wire-to-wire victory boosted the Knicks’s report to 5-1 and a season-high .833 profitable proportion. They misplaced their subsequent two video games and have gone 17-23 since.

FIT TO BE TIED

Coming into Thursday’s recreation, the all-time sequence between the Knicks and Pelicans was deadlocked at 20-20, whereas the groups have been knotted at 10-10 in each New York and New Orleans.

UP NEXT:

Pelicans: New Orleans hosts Indiana on Monday.

Knicks: New York hosts the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday