It will probably not be good to face the New Orleans Pelicans in the play-offs, given the current form of Brandon Ingram and his teammates. Saturday evening, they signed a new victory, their seventh in their last eight games, by disposing of the Los Angeles Clippers for the second time in a week (122-114).
It was another important duel in a hyper tight play-off race in the West. The Clippers, 6th in the Conference, still hold the last directly qualifying ticket, but they only have one victory ahead of their scorers of the day, 7th, who have one more game to play.
A bad operation for the Californians, who dominated the first two quarters before unraveling. It is not for lack of having tried for Kawhi Leonard, author of 40 points and 8 rebounds.
Ingram irresistible
But currently difficult to resist the men of New Orleans, yet still deprived of their star Zion Williamson (thigh). Brandon Ingram continues to impress with 36 points at 13/23 to shoot (plus 8 assists), including a slew of difficult baskets made at half distance. It was his ninth straight outing with at least 25 points. Alongside him, Jonas Valanciunas contributed 23 points and 12 rebounds.
Aligned in the starting five of the Clippers, Nicolas Batum was very discreet: 2 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists in 24 minutes. The other Frenchman on the team, Moussa Diabaté, did not come into play.