Williamson has 32, Pelicans get closer to advancing in In-Season Tournament after beating Clippers

LOS ANGELES — Zion Williamson scored a season-high 32 points, Brandon Ingram added 30 and the New Orleans Pelicans got one step closer to advancing to the quarterfinals in the NBA In-Season Tournament with a 116-106 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday night.

Williamson scored nine points in the final 12 minutes as the Pelicans improved to 3-1 in West Group B play. Houston is 2-1 in the group and needs to beat Dallas by at least 18 points on Tuesday to take the top seed.

New Orleans also extended its winning streak to three and has won five of its last six.

Paul George scored 34 points while Norman Powell and Kawhi Leonard had 20 apiece for the Clippers, who had a three-game winning streak snapped. Los Angeles was 1-3 in group play.

A free throw by Russell Westbrook got the Clippers within 87-86 before the Pelicans took control with a 20-8 run over a five-minute span. Herb Jones scored nine of his 14 points during the spurt and Ingram added six.

Los Angeles trailed 56-55 but scored the first seven points of the third quarter to take its first lead of the game. The Pelicans trailed 79-77 with three minutes remaining, but went on a 8-4 run at the end of the quarter to take an 85-83 lead going into the fourth.

Ingram had 16 points in the first 10 minutes, including 10 straight points during a 14-0 run, as the Pelicans raced out to a 33-12 lead. The Clippers closed out the quarter on an 11-3 run to trail 36-23 after 12 minutes.

New Orleans pushed its advantage to 47-30 on back-to-back 3-pointers by Jordan Hawkins, but the Clippers outscored the Pelicans 25-9 over the final eight minutes to get within one at halftime. George scored eight during the run and Leonard added seven.

UP NEXT

Pelicans: Head to Utah for two straight games starting Saturday.

Clippers: Host the Dallas Mavericks Saturday.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba