Pelicans Notes: CJ McCollum, Brandon Ingram, Herb Jones

Small forward Brandon Ingram scored 40 points as the Pelicans snapped a four-game skid, beating the Trail Blazers in a big one on guard CJ McCollum‘s old stomping grounds on Wednesday.

McCollum scored 24 as New Orleans sits in the 10th spot in the Western Conference, or in the final spot to qualify for the play-in tournament.

“It’s cool to compete against your peers and your friends and the people that you respect and have worked with,” McCollum told reporters. “That’s what the game is about. It’s about respecting the game, playing hard and giving all you got.”

Meanwhile, coach Willie Green offered high praise for Ingram, who gave one of his best showings of the season on ESPN.

“I’m extremely proud of Brandon. I thought on one of the biggest stages, a national televised game, he comes out and he dominates. And that’s what we need from him,” Green said. “He’s one of the better players in the league and when we put the ball in his hands, makes great decisions, finds his teammates. Him and CJ both, they just put us on their back and they carried us.”

• Putting Herb Jones at center seemed to be the right move in generating more offense for the Pelicans, wrote Christian Clark of NOLA.com. “We have to use him like that at times and not just have him in the corner offensively,’ Green said, via Clark. “Putting him in pick-and-roll, allow him to dive, allow him to initiate plays at times. Right now is a time where we have to make adjustments. That’s what myself and our staff have been doing. We’re looking at the film and saying, ‘How can we create offense for ourselves?’”
• Chris Dodson of SI.com proposed five lineups for the Pelicans to take a look at during the season’s final weeks. You can check it out here.
• As for power forward Zion Williamson, there is still nothing new since head of basketball operations David Griffin said Williamson would miss multiple weeks following the All-Star break. We are now in week two.