Zion Williamson gave the Pelicans real offense. Trey Murphy barely got enough chances to matter. That imbalance sat at the heart of New Orleans’ 104-91 loss to Denver on Wednesday, a fourth straight defeat that left the team searching for answers in the backcourt, in the rotation and in the closing lineup.
Williamson turned in his best scoring game of the season and still came out of it as the Pelicans’ most dependable option. He hit 10 of 14 shots, matched his season high on the boards and added three steals.
His best stretch came in the second quarter, when he was perfect on four attempts and poured in 12 points. By halftime, he had already made seven of eight shots.
He cooled some after the break, going 1-for-4 in the third quarter, then knocked down both of his fourth-quarter attempts, including the Pelicans’ only three-pointer in that period. New Orleans needed every bit of that from him because the rest of the team struggled badly, finishing 24-of-68 from the floor. Even then, Williamson only took six shots after halftime, a dip in volume that stood out on a night when the Pelicans needed his scoring punch.
Derik Queen also gave New Orleans something to work with. His night started on the glass, where he grabbed 12 rebounds, eight of them after halftime.
That mattered after Denver owned the opening quarter on the boards, 13-6. Queen added 11 points on only six field goal attempts, making three shots and going 5-for-7 at the line.
He also got into the closing group.
The downside came with the ball. Queen committed five turnovers, and more than a quarter of the Pelicans’ 19 giveaways ran through him.
In a game like this, those possessions sting. Still, the double-double came without heavy shot volume, and the rebounding helped New Orleans hang around.
Murphy, meanwhile, kept running into the same problem: too few touches. He finished with just seven shot attempts.
Jeremiah Fears took 14. Dejounte Murray and Saddiq Bey also got into double figures.
Murphy’s shooting line was shaky - he went 1-for-4 from three in the second half - but the bigger issue is that he was barely involved.
That has been a pattern through four games. Murphy already has two games with fewer than 10 attempts this season.
Last season, he had four such games in 66 appearances and never dipped below eight attempts. Before this season, the last time he had more than one game with fewer than eight attempts was the 2023-24 campaign, when he was still a reserve.
The fourth quarter has been especially quiet. Through four games, Murphy has only six field goal attempts and one free throw attempt in the final period. Against Denver, he took just one shot in the fourth.
Murphy still has to help himself by finding openings and staying aggressive. But the guards and the coaching staff also have to keep him involved. Whatever the split in blame, the current setup is leaving very little output from one of the Pelicans’ more accomplished scorers.
Murray and Fears were part of the larger issue. They combined for 21 points on 9-of-25 shooting, including 1-for-7 from deep, with eight assists and five turnovers.
Fears scored 11 points on 14 attempts and still hasn’t made a fourth-quarter field goal this season, missing all nine tries through four games. Murray had 10 points on 4-of-11 shooting.
He leads the Pelicans in fourth-quarter attempts, has not made a three in the period and has more turnovers than assists.
Fears is still learning his decision-making. Murray’s job is different. He is supposed to organize possessions, identify the best matchups and steady things when the offense gets shaky.
Coach Willie Green used 12 players, but the rotation still felt unsettled. Jordan Poole played seven minutes.
Bennedict Mathurin played 14. Herb Jones logged 19 minutes, another limited workload as the Pelicans continue to sort out his role.
Late in the game, the lineup questions settled into a clear commitment. Murray, Murphy, Bey, Williamson and Queen were on the floor with less than seven minutes left and Denver ahead 88-80, and that group finished the game. By 2:16 remaining, New Orleans had scored just nine points and the deficit had grown to 12.
There’s room for Green to keep sorting out roles, but the offense has to work while that happens. Wednesday’s finish did not offer much reason to be patient with the current shape of things.
Williamson and Queen gave New Orleans something useful to build from. The problem is that the Pelicans need those individual nights to connect into a team performance that can actually win.
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The appeal for the Pelicans is obvious enough: a chance to move off a massive long-term commitment and open up some financial flexibility. But any conversation around Williamson quickly circles back to the same issue, and this one is no different, because the trade idea is built around a player whose availability has always shaped the discussion as much as his talent has. It remains purely speculative, but it is the sort of proposal that forces New Orleans to confront where the line is between patience and practicality. [Read more 🡒]