Pelicans blow another double-figure lead in overtime loss to Memphis

We had seen this before.

The New Orleans Pelicans blew a 24-point lead, losing to the Memphis Grizzlies last Tuesday night.

The New Orleans Pelicans blew a fourth quarter lead Saturday night, losing at home to Houston.

This time, the Pelicans blew a 15-point lead, including leading by 13 points heading to the fourth quarter and Ja Morant had the ball for the final play of the game, trailing by 1-point looking to hand the Pelicans another dagger loss.

Morant drove, Herb Jones was whistled for a foul.

The Pelicans challenged the call. They won the challenge. That resulted in a jump ball with 1.4 seconds left.

Memphis won the jump and called timeout immediately.

The Grizzlies then inbounded the ball and amazingly, Jaren Jackson got to the ball at the rim and Jonas Valanciunas was whistled for a foul with 0.4 seconds left.

It was a highly questionable call.

Valanciunas had inside position and was simply trying to seal Jackson off.

Jackson calmly made the first free throw to tie it but missed the second, sending the game to overtime.

The calls were highly questionable, if not bad calls but the bad was once again how New Orleans plays with the game on the line.

The bad turned quickly into worse in overtime as Memphis dominated the extra period most of the way to steal a 116-115 victory in New Orleans for the second straight week.

The Pelicans are now a pathetic 0-6 in games decided by three points or fewer.

The Pelicans have now blown eight leads and lost in games leading by 10 or more points.

The numbers do not lie.

This team is soft when others are tough.

This team cannot make proper plays or schemes to execute on the offensive end when it matters.

Simply put, one team was tougher than the other when it mattered and one team executed while the other continues to look clueless on the offensive end with games on the line.

The Pelicans were a picture of stationary isolation, allowing double-teams by the Grizzlies. In fact, the Pelicans scored only by making very difficult shots until a pair of late 3-pointers in the final minute of overtime when they were well behind.

Then, there is the matter of free throw shooting.

New Orleans was miserable, missing 12 free throws (21-of-33) for just 63 percent. That is a huge failure.

So was the team, overall.

The Pelicans hired an offensive assistant coach to spruce up that aspect of the team.

That does not seem to have had any impact on this team, particularly with games on the line.

The Pelicans came out cold and Memphis, like Houston Saturday night, was simply more physical in the opening quarter.

New Orleans shot just 35 percent from the field (7-of-20), including just 1-of-8 (12.5%) from 3-point range and trailed 24-19 by the end of the quarter.

Zion Williamson had seven points but had a couple of shots blocked and pair of turnovers. The Pelicans had six turnovers in the quarter.

Brandon Ingram and CJ McCollum combined to score just one point (McCollum) in the quarter.

The Pelicans opened the second quarter in dominant fashion to take a 7-point-lead but it evaporated as the Grizzlies went on a 10-0 run to take a 36-33 lead.

New Orleans closed the half well, on a 15-7 run, including closing the half on a 6-0 run to take a 48-43 lead at halftime.

Williamson finished the half with 13 points and six rebounds and was 5-of-6 from the free throw line.

The Pelicans were just 3-of-13 (23%) from the free throw line but the Grizzlies were only 4-of-23 (17%) from beyond the arc.

New Orleans shot 42 percent while Memphis shot 38 percent in the half as both teams struggled on the offensive end. Desmond Bane carried Memphis with 17 points.

The Pelicans went on a 7-0 run to take a 61-52 lead in the third quarter.

Naji Marshall scored on a drive in the third quarter but left the game with an injured shoulder when he came down and made contact with Jonas Valanciunas. He was able to return in the fourth quarter.

Ingram provided a lift in the third quarter while Jose Alvarado was huge off the bench to lift New Orleans to an 80-67 lead heading to the fourth quarter.

The Pelicans committed four critical turnovers in the fourth quarter and the lead shrunk before disappearing. Memphis won the fourth quarter 36-23. We have seen this before, way too often.

Williamson finished with 23 points and 11 rebounds but was just 7-of-17 from the field and had several shots blocked. Ingram finished with 24 points, seven assists and six rebounds. The Pelicans shot just 43 percent from the field and lost the battle of the boards 50-46.

The Grizzlies outscored the Pelicans 27-21 at the free throw line. The lack of ball movement, good spacing, pretty much everything on the offensive end resulted in New Orleans having just 18 assists on 42-made field goals.

Ja Morant had 31 points, clearly the best player on the floor yet again in a game in New Orleans. Memphis is 4-0 with Morant playing following his suspension to start the season.

You have seen this before.

New Orleans plays like a team trying not to lose, as opposed to a team trying to win in tight games.

In tight situations, it is all isolation.

In tight situations, certain players do not want to take the key shots, hesitant and lacking confidence.

Clearly, New Orleans is good enough to put themselves in position to win.

Clearly, the Pelicans are not good enough to figure out how to win, on the bench and on the court, to make winning plays with the game on the line.

New Orleans returns to action Wednesday night against Utah.

Pelicans fans better hope it is not a close game.