Jamahl Mosley on the Pelicans’ win in Dallas: ‘Defense sustains you’

DALLAS — Oct. 14, 2026 — The New Orleans Pelicans won 101-97 at American Airlines Center on Wednesday night, and when Jamahl Mosley sat down afterward he barely talked about the offense. The first half, he said, was about a defense that finally looked connected, and he wants that to be the identity this group carries into the regular season.

New Orleans forced 27 Dallas turnovers, including two team turnovers, collected 14 steals, scored 27 points off those giveaways and held the Mavericks to 45 points before halftime. The Pelicans led 56-45 at the break and 75-63 after three quarters, then had to survive a 34-26 Dallas fourth quarter to close it out.

‘Defense sustains you’

Asked whether the first half was the best defensive stretch his team had played this preseason, Mosley grabbed the word in the question.

“Yeah, I thought our guys were very connected. That’s a great word,” Mosley said in his postgame session on the team’s official channel. “They were communicating with one another, flying around, covering for one another, doing it best without fouling. Again, we had, I think, two or three shot clock violations. And that’s just their ability to sit down and take on the challenge of being the most physical team early to set the tone in the game.”

A follow-up pointed out that some of the players buying in are not known as defenders. Mosley said the whole roster has taken the message on board, and he explained why.

“They’ve all taken the challenge on, and I think they believe that that’s what’s going to get you over the top,” he said. “Being in so many games and understanding that we can score the ball at times, but defense sustains you. And there’s going to be things that we’re going to have to clean up in our process of getting better. But I did like the effort. I liked the energy. I liked us flying around and more than covering for one another.”

Then he said it twice on purpose. “Setting the tone physically early is exactly what we’ll need to continue to do,” Mosley said. “I think it’s so important how you walk into an NBA game.”

Who did the work

The numbers backed up the coach. Yves Missi had nine rebounds and four blocks in 17 minutes. Jeremiah Fears scored a team-high 16 points with five assists and three steals. Derik Queen pulled down 11 rebounds, and Trey Murphy III, Jordan Poole and Bennedict Mathurin each had three assists. Dallas went 10-of-49 from three, and New Orleans won the fast-break battle 23-8 and the paint 50-38.

Zion Williamson scored 10 points on 5-of-5 shooting off the bench and was plus-14. Herbert Jones went 3-for-3 for seven points, and Karlo Matković hit three of his four threes for 11.

The part he wants cleaned up

The fourth quarter was messier. Seth Lundy scored four straight to cut the lead to 98-95 with 33 seconds left, and John Poulakidas hit a pull-up with 8.9 seconds to go to make it 100-97. Lundy’s three at the buzzer missed, and AJ Johnson split two free throws with 0.4 seconds left.

Mosley said those late possessions will be on the film.

“It’s critical, and then you can watch it on film,” he said. “We talk about end-of-game decision-making, end-of-game communication. Talked about it in the locker room. Yes, we did win the game, but there are so many things that we can clean up. I think that it’s understanding what we’re doing in the huddle, coming out of the huddle with the right lines of communication.”

“But again, the compete level of each one of these guys is at a high level, and that’s what we’re asking them to do,” Mosley added. “And I think we can take it up another notch. But end of games is going to be so important for us to continue to stay locked in.”

The Pelicans are 2-1 in the preseason and host the Washington Wizards on Friday, Oct. 16.