Pelicans start fast, handle business in Detroit

Coming off his least productive game of the season, Zion Williamson was suitably motivated Sunday afternoon in Detroit. The Pelicans star took out whatever frustration lingered from a four-point, five-turnover performance in a win at Miami on the Pistons.

Williamson matched his season high, scoring 36 points for the third time this season in a 114-101 wire-to-wire victory for New Orleans.

With tremendous efficiency, Williamson missed just one field goal attempt, going 13-of-14, while adding seven rebounds, six assists and two steals. He scored his 36 points in 36 minutes of action.

Amazingly, Williamson became just the third player in the last 20 years to score 35 points without the benefit of a 3-pointer and doing so with fewer than 15 field goal attempts. Dwayne Wade did it twice (2005, 2006) while Dwight Howard accomplished the rare feat in 2013.

CJ McCollum continued to step up his game in the absence of Brandon Ingram.

After scoring 30 points, going 6-of-12 from 3-point range in the win over the Heat Friday, McCollum scored 23 points at Detroit, sinking 5-of-9 from 3-point range.

That was plenty enough to offset an off shooting performance by Trey Murphy III, starting in place of Ingram again.

Murphy struggled throughout, making just 1-of-12 field goal attempts while missing all nine 3-point attempts.

The center position was a plus as Jonas Valanciunas and Larry Nance Jr. combined to score 22 points with nine rebounds.

Naji Marshall was huge off the bench again with 14 points, including 4-of-7 from 3-point range.

Largely thanks to Williamson, New Orleans outscored Detroit 58-36 in points in the paint. The Pelicans scored 23 fast break points to 14 for the Pistons and New Orleans scored 20 points off 17 Detroit turnovers. The Pelicans held the Pistons to 40.5 percent shooting from the field.

The Pelicans (44-27) pulled within a half game of the Clippers for fourth place in the Western Conference with 11 games to play in the regular season. The Pelicans return home to open a homestand against co-Western Conference leader Oklahoma City Tuesday night as a six-game homestand against elite competition begins.

On the homestand, New Orleans will also host playoff teams and contenders Milwaukee, Boston, Phoenix and Orlando, along with San Antonio.