The New Orleans Pelicans went into Dallas and came away with a hard-earned 101-97 road win over the Mavericks on October 15, 2026, closing the game with a composed final four minutes at the American Airlines Center. It was a matchup decided in the margins — a handful of late stops, a couple of timely corner threes, and a rebounding edge that kept the Mavericks chasing the game down the stretch.

Final score: New Orleans Pelicans 101, Dallas Mavericks 97

Match Overview

Both teams traded runs through the first three quarters, with neither side able to build a lead beyond single digits. Dallas leaned on its interior scoring and free-throw pressure, while New Orleans kept the game at its preferred tempo by pushing the ball after misses and attacking the rim in transition.

• First quarter: Pelicans 26, Mavericks 22
• Second quarter: Mavericks 27, Pelicans 24 (Pelicans led 50-49 at halftime)
• Third quarter: Pelicans 27, Mavericks 23
• Fourth quarter: Mavericks 25, Pelicans 24
• Final: Pelicans 101, Mavericks 97

The Mavericks briefly grabbed the lead midway through the third on a 9-0 burst, but the Pelicans answered immediately with a 12-3 run of their own and never surrendered the advantage again. Dallas tied the score at 90-90 with just over four minutes remaining before New Orleans closed the game on an 11-7 spurt.

Key Moments

The decisive sequence arrived with the score tied and under three minutes to play. New Orleans forced a contested mid-range miss, pushed the ball in transition, and found Trey Murphy III in the left corner for a three that put the Pelicans up for good. On the next possession, Herb Jones stripped the ball from a driving Dallas forward and drew the foul on the way to the rim, converting both free throws to stretch the margin to five.

Dallas had one last chance to cut it to one possession, but a rushed three with 18 seconds left rimmed out, and the Pelicans iced the game at the line.

Tactical Story

New Orleans won this one on the defensive end. The Pelicans switched nearly every screen in the second half, daring Dallas to beat them one-on-one from the mid-range rather than allowing clean catch-and-shoot looks from beyond the arc. The strategy worked: the Mavericks finished just 9-of-34 from three-point range and generated very little off-the-bounce creation once their initial actions were disrupted.

Offensively, New Orleans dominated the paint 52-44 and won the second-chance battle, turning 12 offensive rebounds into 16 points. Dallas stayed close thanks to a 20-of-23 night at the free-throw line, but its half-court offense stalled for long stretches in the fourth quarter.

Standout Performers

• Zion Williamson (NO): 28 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists — relentless downhill pressure all night
• Trey Murphy III (NO): 22 points, 5 three-pointers, including the game's biggest shot
• Dejounte Murray (NO): 14 points, 11 assists, 3 steals
• Jordan Poole (NO): 17 points off the bench on 7-of-13 shooting
• Anthony Davis (DAL): 26 points, 12 rebounds, 4 blocks
• Cooper Flagg (DAL): 19 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists
• Klay Thompson (DAL): 12 points on 4-of-10 from deep

The bench battle told the story of the game almost on its own: the Pelicans outscored Dallas's reserves 38-21, with Poole and Yves Missi (8 points, 11 rebounds) providing the energy that swung the second and fourth quarters.

What It Means for the Standings

The result gives New Orleans an important early-season road win inside the Western Conference, where every head-to-head result carries weight in a crowded playoff race. For Dallas, it is a frustrating home loss in a game it controlled for stretches — the kind of result that can sting when the standings tighten in March.

The two teams will meet again later in the season, and if this one is any indication, the head-to-head series should be tight all the way through.