The New Orleans Pelicans' winning ways continued on Saturday evening, as they pulled out a stellar victory against the Los Angeles Clippers in front of a packed crowd at Smoothie King Center. Leading the charge once again was star forward Brandon Ingram who finished the contest with a whopping 36 points, 8 assists, and 4 rebounds.

The seventh-year pro has been on a roll during NOLA's recent playoff push and, with yet another strong outing, big man Jonas Valaciunas heaped praise on him during a post-game media session. When asked if “attacking quickly” has been a major reason for Brandon Ingram's scoring success as of late as head coach Willie Green indicated during his presser, the big man agreed with the notion while also noting that the wing has had an impact on the game outside of just his individual point totals.

“That's the pace, we're pushing. He's been great in just pushing the ball. Not just scoring, not just getting to his [mid-range], but also finding the open guys. Trey [Murphy III] in the corner, [Herbert Jones] is shooting great. Cuts and also scoring. So it's deadly when he's playing that way,” Valaciunas said regarding Ingram.

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Since returning to the rotation after nursing a nagging ankle ailment for two consecutive games back in early March, Brandon Ingram has been playing some of the best basketball of his career. From March 14 on, the 25-year-old has posted stellar per-game averages of 29.5 points, 8.0 assists, and 6.0 rebounds on 52.4% shooting from the floor and 43.3% shooting from distance.

With this win, the Pelicans now find themselves just half a game behind the Clippers in the Western Conference standings. With four games remaining, should Ingram and NOLA continue to perform at their recent level of play, they'll have a real opportunity to pass Los Angeles to claim the sixth seed and, in turn, bypass the play-in tournament altogether.