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Michael C. Wright
NEW ORLEANS – A post-game exchange of jerseys seemed inevitable after the rookie’s performance at the Smoothie King Center dylan harper help San Antonio Best new Orleans 135-132 To spoil a historic night from the Pelicans rookie on Monday night derrick queen,
,I’m happy for her,, Queen said of Harper. ,[I] Played against him in college, knew him growing up, played against him in middle school. I’m looking forward to more fights against him. I think I was on Twitter or something. someone further said [draft] The class is going to be better than ours or something.”
Harper and Queen made strong claims for the Class of 2025.
According to ESPN Research, the 13th pick in this year’s NBA draft, Queen scored a game-high 33 points with 10 rebounds, 10 assists and 4 blocks and became the first rookie center to make a 30-point triple-double in NBA history.
No. 2 pick Harper finished with a career-high 22 points with 3 rebounds and 6 assists.
“Special night for him,” Pelicans interim coach James Borrego said of Queen. “He was great. He did a great job defensively on the boards, controlling the offense. We ran a lot of our stuff through him. He was fantastic.”
Harper was like that, a lefty who overcame Saddiq Bey There were 9.1 seconds left on a physical drive that ended with a right-handed layup that gave San Antonio a one-point lead.
“At the beginning of the year I was a little confused, a little hesitant, like, ‘Yeah, I’m the new guy. I’m trying to figure it out,'” Harper said. “But as the season went on, my teammates and coaches encouraged me to be myself. Games like this show that no matter what, I’m going to attack the rim.”
TeamMite Stephen CastleThe reigning NBA Rookie of the Year took notice.
“He’s just fearless, finding the shot he wants whenever he touches the paint,” he said.
The queen almost retorted, as jose alvarado Found the rookie standing alone in 3-point range at the top of the key. But Queen’s potential game-winner hit the front of the rim with 3.1 seconds remaining, forcing the rookie to foul. De’Aaron FoxWho increased the lead with a pair of free throws.
According to ESPN Research, Queen had a strong third quarter for New Orleans, scoring 21 points with five assists and becoming the fourth player in the play-by-play era to finish a quarter with at least 20 points and five assists with no turnovers. Lebron James, brandon ingram And tyce jonesThe Pelicans rookie made 6 of 6 shots from the field in the third, missed all nine of his free throws in the quarter, and shot 73,3% for the game, New Orleans outshot San Antonio 45–23 in the quarters,
“I’m very disappointed with the way we came out in the second half,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “Give them credit. JB made them play hard. They didn’t give up. They made some shots and turned the game around, and then you’re in a dogfight.”
Queen’s last two free throws to end the third quarter gave New Orleans a 102–100 lead heading into the final frame and erased a 25-point deficit. Queen now becomes the third rookie in New Orleans franchise history to post a triple-double, joining Chris Paul and Darren Collison.
Harper scored nine points with three assists on 4-of-7 shooting in the final frame.
“I think we all [in the 2025 draft class] Growing up, we played,” he said. “No matter what it was, whether it was open gym or going to camp together, we wanted to compete against each other. Every All-American game was competitive. Then, when the cameras aren’t on and there’s no one around, you’re playing with the big guys all the time. We had NBA runs. We had college runs. “We love to compete.”
