NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Jalen Williams scored 26 points and the Oklahoma City Thunder rallied with a 12-0 run during the final 2:31 to escape with a 119-112 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday night after losing a 20-point lead in the third quarter.
Josh Giddey scored 25 points and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added 24, including a tying 3 with 1:29 left.
Zion Williamson had 29 points and 10 assists, and CJ McCollum scored 23 points for the Pelicans, who trailed 88-68 before using a 20-2 run to get themselves — and the crowd — back into the game.
New Orleans briefly went up by five — helped by Trey Murphy III’s 28-foot 3 and McCollum’s driving floater — to take a 112-107 lead with 3:11 left. But the Pelicans did not score again, missing their final five shots.
Chet Holmgren had 16 points for Oklahoma City, which won for the fifth time in six games to pull half a game behind idle Denver for the top spot in the Western Conference.
Murphy and Herb Jones each scored 16 for New Orleans, which lost for just the second time in eight games and fell out of fourth place in the West.
Oklahoma City shot 62.2% (28 of 45) overall and 50% (10 of 20) from long distance in the first half, when it opened up a 15-point lead.
Williams had 18 of his points in the opening half, and his third 3 of the game gave the Thunder a 71-56 lead. Gilgeous-Alexander’s 15-foot turnaround in the final seconds of the second quarter gave Oklahoma City a 73-58 halftime lead.
