It’s not really that the Pelicans started slow, but that the Jazz started much quicker. In the first quarter, the Jazz were 14-24 from the field and a perfect 10-10 from the free throw line, giving them a seemingly effortless 44 points and a 13 point lead at the end of one. While that lead would threaten to vanish, it never fully evaporated.
The Pelicans outscored Utah the rest of the way, even cutting the lead to four with 37 seconds left, but it was too little too late. With the Jazz playing pretty much perfectly to start the game, it left New Orleans with no margin of error for the rest of the contest.