Las Vegas has a way of wearing people down, and for the New Orleans Pelicans, that meant going two full years without a Summer League win. That streak ended Saturday night with a 95-91 comeback win over the Charlotte Hornets, and it took a 7-foot-2 center drilling a three-pointer with under a minute left to get it done.
Hunter Dickinson, who played at Michigan and Kansas, gave the Pelicans their first lead of the whole game on that shot with 49 seconds on the clock. He finished with 21 points on 9-of-18 shooting in 26 minutes. Not bad for a guy who played all of five NBA games last season and is trying to convince the front office he deserves real minutes this year.
The Pelicans were down by 18 at one point. They were sloppy, dragged down by bad decisions and worse shot selection. Then something clicked. The defense tightened up, Charlotte started turning the ball over like it was a job requirement (22 turnovers total), and New Orleans clawed back one possession at a time.
Bufkin and Moore step up alongside Dickinson
Fourth-year guard Kobe Bufkin, who also played with Dickinson at Michigan, put up 19 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals, and a block. He was all over the place defensively, generating transition looks that kept the Pelicans within striking distance when the offense still looked shaky.
Undrafted forward Jalon Moore added 13 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 steals, hitting 4-of-7 from the field. The Pelicans as a team forced those 22 turnovers after finding themselves in that deep hole, which is the kind of defensive response you want to see even if it’s just Summer League.
Head coach Jamahl Mosley wasn’t on the sideline for this one — God Shammgod handled those duties — but the Pelicans are clearly hoping this sort of fight carries over into the regular season. The franchise has been stuck in neutral for a while, and Summer League success doesn’t mean much once October rolls around. But losing breeds a kind of weight that’s hard to shake, and this win breaks the spell, at least for one night in Vegas.
The Pelicans face the Phoenix Suns on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET. They’ll probably be tired, and nobody’s expecting a repeat performance. But for now, the curse is over.
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