McCollum ties career with 50, helps Pelicans snap 11-game skid
NEW ORLEANS — CJ McCollum highlighted a career high-tying 50 points with 10 3-pointers, and the New Orleans Pelicans snapped an 11-game losing streak with a 132-120 victory over the Washington Wizards on Friday night.
Trey Murphy scored 17 and rookie center Yves Missi had 12 point and 11 rebounds for New Orleans, which won for just the second time in 22 games.
The Pelicans have the NBA’s worst record at 6-29, but now share with Washington (6-26) the dubious distinction of having the fewest victories in the league.
McCollum had his toe on the 3-point line when he hit a 21-foot jumper to give New Orleans a 128-111 lead. It was initially ruled a 3, which would have given him a career high in points and tied his franchise high of 11 made 3s. But it was reduced to a 2-point shot on video review.
McCollum played just 30 minutes, 40 seconds in the game, and in his other previous 50-point game he played only 29 minutes,16 seconds, according to ESPN Research. By doing so, he joins Klay Thompson as the only players to record multiple career 50-point games while playing fewer than 31 minutes since 1955-56.
New Orleans was playing at home for the first time since a deadly New Year’s Day attack in the French Quarter, and a moment of silence was held before tipoff.
Jordan Poole scored 24 points for the Wizards but was affected by a hard fall under the basket with 4:38 left in the third quarter. He scored just five more points after the fall, which sent him to the locker room briefly for treatment for lower back soreness.
Rookie center Alexandre Sarr scored 19 for Washington.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
Source: espn.com