The New Orleans Pelicans defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder, 131-122, at Smoothie King Center on Thursday.
The Pelicans' (26-33) Anthony Davis, who has seen his minutes dwindle since his trade request, and Thursday night, the All-Star big man played 16 minutes in the first half before being ruled out for the rest of the game with a shoulder injury. Whether the injury was a legitimate concern or not did not matter to New Orleans, as they managed to fend off one of the Western Conference's best teams in the last game before the All-Star break.
Julius Randle was unstoppable in the winning effort, playing 39 minutes and posting a team-high 33 points, 11 rebounds and six assists in that time. Jrue Holiday was very close behind, scoring 32 points to go along with five rebounds and seven assists. As a team, it was a very efficient night offensively against a stout Oklahoma City defense, as New Orleans shot 46.2 percent from three and 54.3 percent from the field overall.
As for the Thunder (37-20), Russell Westbrook came through with his most efficient performance of the regular season, but it still wasn't enough. Westbrook shot 18-of-30 from the field en route to scoring a season-high 44 points to go along with 14 rebounds and 11 assists across 39 minutes. It was his 11th straight triple-double. Paul George was not as efficient, going a miserable 3-of-17 from behind the arc, but he still finished with 28 points, seven rebounds and six assists. The only other Thunder player to reach double figures was Nerlens Noel, who posted 22 points and 13 rebounds in just 22 minutes off the bench.
Now, heading into the All-Star break, the Thunder sit comfortably in third place in the Western Conference standings, while the Pelican own the third-to-worst record in the conference.
