November 1, 2026 at 5:18 AM UTC

Postgame Report

Pelicans Pull Away From Hawks, 121-99, on Halloween Night

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New Orleans turned a Saturday night in the Crescent City into a 22-point win, leaving Atlanta's road trip with a stumble at the first stop.

On a Halloween Saturday, October 31, the Pelicans gave a home crowd something better than a costume contest, beating the Atlanta Hawks 121-99 in New Orleans. The game was easy to find for anyone with a TV channel or a streaming login, and it was not especially hard to follow once it started. New Orleans led comfortably and kept the Hawks at a distance.

Atlanta had arrived with a defensive idea. The Pelicans came in averaging more than 17 turnovers a game, 25th in the league, and the Hawks had forced 25 in Charlotte. Pregame talk focused on Dyson Daniels, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Matisse Thybulle, no wait, Dort, as the sort of pressure that could fluster New Orleans. Whatever the Hawks' pressure produced, it did not hold the Pelicans below 121 points, and the plan never made this a game.

The result leaves Atlanta at 3-4 after it had gone in at 3-3, looking for a second straight win to open a three-game trip. The Hawks had recovered from their worst loss of the season, at Miami, by narrowly beating Cleveland. This was a step back from that, and Indiana and Washington are still ahead.

For New Orleans, the win moves the record to 2-4. The 1-4 start had been softer than it looked, since close losses to Denver, Indiana and Utah suggested a team better than its record. This time there was no need for late-game arithmetic. The Pelicans won by 22 and finally had the result to match the competitive games they'd already played.

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