NEW ORLEANS — CJ McCollum highlighted a 45-point performance with 3-pointers and clutch reverse layups.
Dejounte Murray’s relentless pressure on both ends of the court left him one rebound away from a triple-double.
And the New Orleans Pelicans pulled off the biggest comeback in franchise history.
As injury-plagued, hapless and generally miserable much of their season has been, the Pelicans don’t seem ready to give up.
“A big credit to our guys in the locker room who came together,” Pelicans coach Willie Green said after his team erased a 25-point Utah lead and beat the Jazz 123-119 in overtime on Monday. at night. “This was a tough game to win.”
Little has gone right for New Orleans this season.
Star power forward Zion Williamson, who recently returned from a left hamstring injury, was unable to play against Utah on Monday due to a non-COVID-related illness. He has missed 34 of the Pelicans’ 44 games this season.
New Orleans’ top defender, Herb Jones, is out indefinitely with a shoulder injury, while scoring wing Brandon Ingram has missed 20 consecutive games with a sprained left ankle.
The Pelicans had more internal matchup issues against Utah because 7-foot rookie center Yves Missi missed his second straight game with a non-COVID-related illness.
Utah outrebounded New Orleans 63-45, scored 23 points on second chances and outscored the Pelicans 60-40 in the paint. However, New Orleans (12-32), which will struggle to compete for a postseason berth again, won its fourth straight game and seventh in 10.
“We were missing some guys who rebounded the ball well,” McCollum said. “Sometimes, it’s not X’s and O’s. It’s Jimmies and Joes.”
McCollum, 33, scored 45 or more points twice in 10 games, starting with 50 in a win over Washington on Jan. 3.
“CJ was awesome and once he got going I thought his teammates did a great job trying to find him,” Green said. “We were setting things up for him. He executed offensively over and over again. Without that effort, it’s hard for us to win that game.”
Now in his 12th NBA season, McCollum said he likes to think his game will “age well.”
“I’m not here dunking people,” he said. “It’s skill. It’s strategy. It’s angles. It’s footwork. It’s a jump shot that never quits. I’ll be able to shoot when I’m 40.”
Murray, who missed 17 games earlier this season with a hand injury, is also regaining form and had 26 points, 11 assists, nine rebounds and two steals on Monday.
“He was super, super aggressive when we needed him to be,” McCollum said.
Meanwhile, Trey Murphy III extended his recent streak of productive form with 24 points, highlighted by a three-pointer late in overtime that nearly sealed the win. Additional help came from 2023 first-round draft pick Jordan Hawkins, who hit three 3-pointers and finished with 18 points.
McCollum lamented that one of New Orleans’ three most recent losses came by a single point in Boston, where he missed a last-second floater to take the win.
“I don’t take these wins for granted because it took us like two months to get five wins,” McCollum said. “You have to ride the wave and keep your perspective in check.”
The Pelicans were scheduled to play next Wednesday night at home against Milwaukee. Meanwhile, McCollum planned to make the most of the day off Tuesday, when a rare snow storm was forecast for southern Louisiana.
“I hope there’s a lot of snow,” said McCollum, the father of a 3-year-old boy, “so I can play in the snow with my son.”
