Murphy’s monster effort powers Pelicans past Blazers

Coming off a poor performance in a home loss to Oklahoma City and playing the second game of a back-to-back situation, things did not look too good heading into Sunday night’s game against another contender for Western Conference play-in honors in the Portland Trailblazers.

The concerns proved unfounded.

The Pelicans dominated from start to finish in a 127-110 in a game that was never close.

The Pelicans took all their key players out in the fourth quarter with a lead that reached 39 points, at one point.

It was the Trey Murphy III show.

With his mother and father in the building watching, Murphy pumped in a career high 41 points in just 30 minutes. In the process, Murphy became just the fourth player in the league to score 40 or more points in 30 or fewer minutes this season.

Murphy sank 9 of 14 shots from three-point range. His last basket was a reverse dunk early in the fourth quarter. The nine makes from three-point range were a career high for Murphy as well.

Willie Green then took him out of the game to a huge ovation.

It was the ultimate get-right game for the Pelicans and Murphy was the biggest reason.

Murphy, a deadly free throw shooter, made all six attempts from the charity stripe as well.

Murphy was not the only reason for the win.

New Orleans had five players in double figures and had 34 assists on 43 made shots.

CJ McCollum showed his former team what he is all about with 22 points, 11 assists and five rebounds in 30 minutes.

Josh Richardson added 19 points coming off the bench.

It was an excellent response by Green and his team after getting whipped by the Thunder Saturday night.

Winning the second of a back-to-back is the most difficult task in the league and it has been particularly difficult for the Pelicans.

It was good to see Larry Nance Jr. back on the floor. While he was not a factor, getting him back was huge and could prove huge down the stretch.

Now, we wait to see when Brandon Ingram and Jose Alvarado will return and, of course, wait to see if Zion Williamson returns.

With the win, New Orleans is now in a tenth-place tie with Utah and Oklahoma City for the final play-in spot in the West.

Next up comes another crucial game with the Lakers Tuesday night at Smoothie King Center.

The Lakers will either be in a four-way tie with the Jazz, Thunder and Pelicans for ninth or a game ahead of all three, pending the outcome of its game with the Knicks tonight.