NEW ORLEANS (Interstat) — Zion Williamson matched his season high with 29 points off the bench Saturday night, powering the New Orleans Pelicans to a 128-109 victory over the Indiana Pacers at Smoothie King Center. The Pelicans seized control with a 44-point first quarter and never trailed. Williamson, playing his third straight game as a reserve, scored 18 points by halftime as New Orleans built a 64-49 lead. He finished 9 of 14 from the floor and made 11 of 13 free throws, adding seven rebounds. Pascal Siakam led Indiana with 22 points. The Pelicans’ reserves outscored the Pacers’ bench 66-38, with Saddiq Bey adding 18 points. New Orleans shot 52.9% from the field and outrebounded Indiana 45-37 to secure its fourth consecutive win.

NEW ORLEANS (Interstat) — Zion Williamson came off the bench and matched his season high with 29 points, powering the New Orleans Pelicans to a 128-109 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Saturday night for their season-high fourth consecutive win. A crowd of 16,434 at the Smoothie King Center watched the Pelicans seize control with a dominant first quarter and never look back, improving to 7-22. The Pacers fell to 6-22 with their second straight loss. The most important part of the game was its explosive start. New Orleans raced out to a 44-point first quarter, establishing a 17-point lead that Indiana would spend the rest of the night unsuccessfully trying to overcome. The Pelicans shot efficiently from the opening tip, with Saddiq Bey hitting a 25-foot jumper for the game’s first points just over 40 seconds in. That set the tone for a period where New Orleans built leads of 16-2 and 20-4, capitalizing on early Indiana turnovers and missed shots. The Pacers, led by Pascal Siakam’s 10 first-quarter points, managed to trim the deficit to 27-22 late in the period, but the Pelicans closed with a 17-5 run, capped by a Karlo Matkovic dunk and a Jeremiah Fears free throw, to take a commanding 44-27 advantage into the second. Williamson, appearing in his third straight game as a reserve, was instrumental in building that early cushion and maintaining it. He scored 18 of his points in the first half, helping New Orleans to a 64-49 lead at intermission. The forward made 9 of 14 shots from the floor and 11 of 13 free throws, adding seven rebounds in just 23 minutes of action. He did not play in the fourth quarter with the outcome well in hand. The Pelicans’ bench, led by Williamson’s outburst, accounted for a season-high 66 points. Bey scored 18 points, while Trey Murphy III and Derik Queen each added 17. Queen completed a double-double with 10 rebounds and four assists. Jordan Poole contributed 16 points and six assists for New Orleans. Indiana, which never led, was paced by Siakam’s 22 points and five rebounds. TJ McConnell provided a spark off the bench with 16 points and eight assists in 18 minutes. Rookie Johnny Furphy added 18 points for the Pacers. After the Pelicans’ first-quarter onslaught, the Pacers could get no closer than 13 points in the second quarter. New Orleans answered every Indiana push, restoring a 20-point lead late in the third quarter and cruising through the final period. The Pelicans led by as many as 22 points in the fourth. The win extended New Orleans’ best streak of a difficult season, following victories over Portland, Chicago and Houston. The Pelicans entered the game with just a 50.6 percent probability to win according to National Statistical’s ELO system, but covered the pregame spread as a 3-point favorite. The total score of 237 points went under the betting over/under line of 234.5. Indiana, which has lost 10 of its last 12 games, continues a challenging stretch with a visit to Boston on Monday. New Orleans, aiming to extend its winning streak, hosts Dallas on Monday.

NEW ORLEANS (Interstat) — Two of the NBA’s struggling teams will meet Saturday when the Indiana Pacers visit the New Orleans Pelicans at Smoothie King Center. Both clubs enter with identical 6-21 records, though each is coming off a vastly different performance. The Pacers (6-21) fell 114-113 to the New York Knicks on Thursday on a last-second shot, a crushing defeat after they had rallied from a 20-point deficit. The Pelicans (6-22), meanwhile, snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 133-128 victory over the Houston Rockets. Indiana will lean on forward Pascal Siakam, who has been a consistent bright spot. He is averaging 22.6 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.2 assists over his last 10 games, including a 26-point, six-rebound, five-assist effort in the loss to New York. Guard Andrew Nembhard erupted for a career-high 31 points in that contest. New Orleans counters with forward Saddiq Bey, who is in the midst of a career resurgence. He poured in 29 points and grabbed nine rebounds against Houston and is averaging 19.2 points and 7.9 rebounds over his last 10 games. He forms a potent wing duo with Trey Murphy III, who scored 27 points in the Pelicans’ last outing. The game features two of the league’s bottom-five defenses, suggesting a high-scoring affair. Indiana allows a league-worst 124.1 points per game, while New Orleans ranks 28th at 122.3 points allowed. Both teams have shown offensive flashes, however, with the Pelicans scoring 143 points in a win over Portland last week and the Pacers putting up 120 or more points in four of their last ten games. For the Pacers, finding a way to close games remains a critical issue, as their one-point loss to New York demonstrated. The Pelicans will aim to build momentum from their recent win and establish consistency after a prolonged slump. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. CST. Following this game, Indiana begins a tough back-to-back at Boston on Monday. New Orleans continues a five-game homestand against Dallas on Monday.