Jamahl Mosley has made it clear ever since he was hired as the New Orleans Pelicans’ head coach that he would build his program around defense.

His new team’s first performance featured just enough defensive lapses to enable the Indiana Pacers to beat the Pelicans 123-120 on Wednesday night in the Smoothie King Center.

The Pacers scored 30 or more points in three of the four quarters, including a 37-28 edge in the fourth quarter when New Orleans couldn’t slow down Tyrese Haliburton or Pascal Siakam, who scored 13 points and 12 respectively in the final quarter.

Although the defense was inconsistent the points allowed don’t tell the whole story.

“What cost us was the turnovers and the transition baskets,” Mosley said.

The Pelicans turned the ball over 14 times, leading to 16 points for Indiana, which had a 27-10 advantage in fast-break points.

“I feel bad that we let one get away,” said Dejounte Murray, who led New Orleans with 23 points. “We controlled the game.”

The Pelicans had a pretty good handle on the game when they held a 101-93 lead early in the fourth quarter, but the Pacers used a 15-3 run to take a four-point lead. Defensive breakdowns helped put Indiana in the bonus barely three minutes into the fourth quarter and the Pacers wound up shooting 15 free throws in the fourth quarter though they didn’t take full advantage by missing six.

“They ended up in the bonus faster than they needed to be,” Mosley said.

New Orleans squeezed two one-point leads among three ties down the stretch before Haliburton sliced through the defense for a layup and a tie-breaking three-point play with 1:23 left. The Pelicans had three chances to tie in the final seconds but Jeremiah Fears and Zion Williamson each missed a 3-poiinter before Trey Murphy III’s desperation have from the backcourt missed as time expired.

“For the most part we played pretty good,” Mosley said, “but we had some small breakdowns and in a three-point game those small breakdowns make the difference. We’ll get that tightened.”

New Orleans begins a two-game road trip when its visits the Utah Jazz on Friday night.

Siakam finished with a game-high 30 points and Haliburton added 23 points and 12 assists in his first game since tearing an Achilles in a Game 7 loss to Oklahoma City in the 2025 NBA Finals. Obi Toppin scored 20, Andrew Nembhard had 18 and Ivica Zubac added 16 points and 13 rebounds.

Williamson scored 22 points, Yves Missi had 13 points and 14 rebounds, Saddiq Bey scored 13, former Pacer Bennedict Mathurin and Trey Murphy scored 11 each, and Derik Queen had 10 points and 10 rebounds.

“We have a deep team,” Murray said.

The Pelicans led by 10 points at halftime, but Toppin’s dunk pulled the Pacers within 77-74 midway through the third quarter. Bey answered with two free throws and Mathurin followed with two more.

Quenton Jackson made consecutive steals, scoring on a layup after the first and feeding Toppin for a layup after the second, to cut the lead to three. Queen made four free throws to help New Orleans take a 92-86 lead at the end of the third quarter.

“It’s hard to win in this league,” Williamson said. “If you want to win you have to close games.”

Mosley started the team’s top two point guards – Murray and Fears – and brought Herb Jones, the team’s best one-on-one defender, off the bench. Fears committed his second foul less than two minutes into the game, but Mosley left him in the game and Fears committed his third foul with 6:56 left in the quarter.

The decision to pair Murray and Fears, Mosley said, was largely to take advantage of their ability to pressure the ball fullcourt and the change went smoothly because “Herb is the ultimate pro.”

The Pacers shot 59.1% from the floor and held a 38-31 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The Pelicans scored the first 12 points of the second quarter as the Pacers went scoreless for nearly the first five minutes.

“That’s who we have to be,” Mosley said. “Herb came in and changed the game with his defense, energy physicality and toughness.”

Toppin made another 3-pointer to end the drought and Indiana tied the score twice.

Williamson, who worked extensively on his 3-point shooting in the offseason and vowed to shoot a lot more than the four he took last season, made his first two tries during the final minute of the second quarter to help the Pelicans take a 66-56 halftime lead.

“It was a good feeling,” said Williamson, who finished 2-of-4 from beyond the arc, tying a career-high for attempts. “It means a lot to see your work pay off. But I really wanted to win that first one.”