At 7:00 a.m. Beijing time on March 14, the NBA regular season competition was in full swing, with the New Orleans Pelicans sitting at home to meet the Houston Rockets. The Pelicans have become one of the more watched teams in recent times, and Zion has once again been reimbursed this season, which is a bit of a pity for the Pelicans, but they still have the opportunity to impact the playoffs this season. Why is pelicans getting attention right now? Because they are only one place behind the Los Angeles Lakers, before this game, the Lakers' record of 29 wins and 37 losses ranked 9th in the West, while the Pelicans ranked 10th in the West with 27 wins and 40 losses, I have to say that the Pelicans are very face-giving to the Lakers, the Lakers have lost more and won less in recent times, and the Pelicans are also in the midst of 4 consecutive losses.

On the other hand, the Pelicans welcomed the addition of the Blazers' former second-in-command McCollum before the trade deadline of the season, and after coming to the Pelicans, McCollum quickly got into shape, averaging 27.1 points, 5.6 rebounds and 6.7 assists per game in the 12 starts, shooting 53% from the field and 40% from three-point range, replacing Ingram as the Pelicans' new first-point score. After Zion's return, the Pelicans' results are still quite worth the expectations of fans.
Their opponent, the Houston Rockets, are currently at the bottom of the West with a record of 17 wins and 50 losses, and they are also the team with the lowest winning percentage in the league. The addition of Jaylen Green and Shin Kyung offseason did not put the Rockets in the restructuring stage on the right track, and it will take a while for the Rockets to return to the strength of the playoff level. In this game, both sides were on the starting lineup, and the Rockets side sent Wood, Green, Porter Jr., Tate and Matthews. The Pelicans sent out on their side, Valanciunas, Graham, Jones, Hayes and Marshall. McCollum and Ingram both missed the match.
At the beginning of the first quarter of the game, Wood jumped the ball to win, the Rockets took the lead in getting the ball, Green scored the first goal of the game under the basket, Valanciunas responded to the strong fight in the penalty area, Tate and Valanciunas flew three-pointers against each other, Wood held high to play the inside line to pick the basket, the two teams launched a confrontation at the beginning of the first quarter of the game, Wood gave in the box, the outside double core was absent, Varan became the pelicans' main scoring point, as the space type 5 position, Varan inside and outside successively blossomed, the first quarter of the game ended, The Rockets led the Pelicans by three points at 32-29.
At the beginning of the second quarter, the Rockets collapsed in a single quarter, Wood, who had 6 points and 7 rebounds in the first quarter, did not score goals in the second quarter, and relied on free throws in the single quarter to score 2 points, while Porter Jr. and Green also did not feel good. The Rockets' scoring points are very scattered, Wood, as the team's home star, did not play the role of the core players, on the other hand, the Pelicans, Valanciunas controlled the overall situation, 10 points and 2 rebounds in 5 of 7 shots in a single quarter, and Hayes and Marshall, who temporarily played the starting lineup, also felt good, and the Pelicans blasted 39 points in the second quarter, 16 points ahead of the Rockets. At halftime, the Pelicans led the Rockets by 13 points at 68-55.
At the beginning of the second half of the game, Yibian fought again, the Rockets continued to enter a state of dud, the third quarter only scored 17 points in a single quarter, Wood's personal performance was getting worse and worse, the second quarter was good to get 2 points through free throws, and the third quarter was 8 minutes of two shots and 0 points were not scored, the Rockets relied on Green's outside fire output to support bitterly, but the difference between the two teams was getting bigger and bigger, and the Pelicans' lead was once to 30 points. After the third quarter, the Pelicans led the Rockets by 26 points at 98-72.
In the final quarter of the showdown, the Rockets gave up the game early, all the staff replaced by the substitute lineup for combat, and the Pelicans have not let their guard down, Varan led the team to continue to play half a quarter of the game, help the team firmly occupy the initiative, the game into garbage time, the victory and defeat completely lost suspense, and finally 130-105 victory over the Rockets, ending their 4 consecutive losses. The Pelicans won another game, which also put a lot of pressure on the Lakers.
In terms of statistics, Green had 17 points and 4 assists; Nouaba had 15 points and 2 blocks; Tate had 14 points; Christopher had 11 points and 5 rebounds; and Wood had 8 points, 12 rebounds and 4 assists. On the Pelicans side, Valanciunas had 32 points, 10 rebounds and 3 assists; Hayes had 21 points, 6 rebounds and 2 steals; Marshall 17 points, 10 rebounds and 2 steals; Alvarado had 16 points, 10 assists and 6 steals; HernanGomez had 12 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists; and Graham had 10 points, 7 assists and 2 steals