Sloppy, inaccurate Pelicans fall to 0-3 with loss at Minnesota

It was the first back-to-back for the New Orleans Pelicans.

The end result? They are still in search of their first win.

New Orleans handled the ball terribly and shot the ball terribly in a 96-89 loss to Minnesota at Target Center.

That the Pelicans were even in the game was amazing when you consider the numbers.

New Orleans committed a staggering 30 turnovers, the most forced by a Minnesota team in franchise history.

The Pelicans shot 34.8 percent from the field.

New Orleans shot just 22.5 percent from 3-point range.

The Pelicans hung around because the Timberwolves were not much better offensively but Minnesota was good enough to get the job done and get the win to improve to 2-0.

The first quarter was played on even terms with the Timberwolves grabbing a 28-27 lead.

The Pelicans went to the bench and went south once again when doing so as Minnesota blitzed New Orleans 26-14 in the second quarter to take a 54-41 halftime lead.

Herb Jones did not score a point in the third quarter but he had eight rebounds and a block in the quarter as New Orleans mounted a comeback.

Despite missing their first nine 3-point-attempts of the quarter, Trey Murphy finally hit one in the final minute to tie the game and the Pelicans got possession with a chance to take the lead but committed a careless turnover and the Timberwolves converted with a basket at the buzzer to take a 69-67 lead going to the final frame.

Karl Anthony Towns fouled out with 6:36 to play in the game with his team leading 83-74. Towns finished with 25 points.

Without Towns in the game, the Pelicans went to Jonas Valanciunas regularly down the stretch and the big man delivered with a mismatch on former LSU star Naz Reid.

Unfortunately, terrible shooting, terrible decisions with the ball and a terrible number of turnovers resulting doomed New Orleans.

New Orleans was a dismal 2-of-18 (11%) from 3-point range in the second half.

Brandon Ingram finished with 30 points, six rebounds and four assists while Valanciunas was outstanding with 20 points, 17 rebounds and three steals. Ingram did commit seven turnovers, too many.

The guard play, which was pretty good in the first two games of the season, fell apart Saturday night.

Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Devonte’ Graham combined to shoot a miserable 8-of-38 from the field and a horrible 3-of-23 from 3-point range.

Alexander-Walker was 6-of-24 from the field, scoring 14 points and added 14 rebounds but he committed five turnovers.

Graham was 2-of-14 and scored 11 points with three turnovers.

Once again, the bench gave Willie Green virtually nothing, scoring just 12 points, including six from Trey Murphy on a pair of 3-pointers.

The two teams will meet again Monday night at Target Center.

With no sign of Zion Williamson close to coming back, the concern remains that the Pelicans will bury themselves early in the brutal Western Conference and Williamson’s return and return to form may be too little too late.

Yes, it is early but yes, you should be concerned about a team that has had little or no bench production, cannot take care of the basketball and must shoot better, much better, to be able to find a way to win.