Dejounte Murray hasn’t been in New Orleans that long, but he knows something has to change.
The crowd at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans was excited and excited to kick off the game against the Raptors on Wednesday night.
But when the visitors – who have gone 0-10 in their last road games – jumped out to a 34-point lead in the second half, the momentum from the crowd came through and Murray never blamed them.
“If you’re shameless and really angry about this, that’s a problem,” Murray said.
“It’s not really about losing, [but] how we lost in front of our fans. Like, even the fans boo – I mean, what would you do if you were a paying fan? You want to come and watch a competitive basketball game, especially from your home team. So, they have every right to say what they want, to hear how they feel. They deserve a better game.”
The loss extended the Pels’ losing streak to six games. Admittedly, injuries to Murray himself, Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram, CJ McCollum, Herb Jones, Trey Murphy III, Jose Alvarado and Jordan Hawkins certainly did not help the team’s cause.
“When you bring in guys, guys, guys, guys, it’s really hard,” Murray said. “But I think it is not difficult to compete.
“You can’t be beaten. You can’t be pushed around. Tonight, it was just disgusting. We have to compete. We have to play hard, no matter who is down.”
It was Murray’s return on Wednesday after missing 17 games with a broken left hand and it was McCollum’s second game back after missing most of this month with an adductor strain.
“They either get better overnight, or we have to do a better job of closing and making it more difficult,” McCollum said.
“It was a bad show,” he added. “From top to bottom, we all have to be better.”
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