The Pelicans ended Memphis's 6-0 start with a 135-134 overtime win

The New Orleans Pelicans beat the Memphis Grizzlies 135-134 in overtime on Monday night, ending the last unbeaten start in the NBA.

Zion Williamson scored 25 points, including nine in the overtime period, and Jeremiah Fears made two free throws with 7.3 seconds remaining to put New Orleans ahead.

Memphis fell to 6-1 after opening the season with six straight wins, a start that matched the best in franchise history.

The Pelicans have now won three straight games and are 3-4 after a difficult opening stretch of the schedule.

The quarter scores were 34-31, 25-31, 41-33, 24-29 and 11-10 in the extra period.

The Pelicans' win was their third straight and came after they had lost four of their first five games.

Memphis had not trailed in the fourth quarter of any of its first six games, which is what made this finish unusual.

The overtime period belonged to Williamson. He scored nine of New Orleans' 11 points in the extra five minutes, mostly on drives and one fadeaway jumper.

Memphis had two chances in the final 20 seconds and could not convert either, and the Pelicans' defense forced a contested look on the last possession.

The game had 11 lead changes across the fourth quarter and overtime, which is why the finish felt like a playoff game in the first week of November.

New Orleans won despite being out-rebounded, which has been a season-long issue for a team that starts two smaller guards.

The Pelicans' bench was also outscored, which makes the result more about the starters' late execution than about depth.

New Orleans' final defensive possession was its best of the night, and it came after a timeout with 12 seconds left.

The Pelicans' late-game execution has been the difference in the winning streak, and it was again on Monday.

Ty Jerome was the reason there was an overtime at all. He scored nine straight Memphis points in the final 1:43 of regulation to tie the game at 124.

Jerome's run came on three consecutive 3-pointers and a pair of free throws, and it erased what had been a seven-point New Orleans lead.

The Grizzlies' offense had stalled for most of the quarter before that stretch, and Jerome's shot-making covered for a half-court game that was not creating clean looks.

Memphis finished with six players in double figures but could not get a stop when it mattered most.

That is the difference between a 7-0 start and 6-1: one quarter of execution.

Karlo Matkovic scored a career-high 25 to match Williamson, and Derik Queen added 20 for New Orleans.

The Pelicans' offense has been the surprise of their start: three straight games over a hundred and twenty points, which is the opposite of how the first two weeks looked.

Fears, the rookie guard, has been the secondary creator in those games, and his free throws at the end were the calmest moment of the night.

New Orleans' defense is still the weak point, and Memphis scored 134 with a half-court offense that was not at its best.

The Pelicans' next three games are against teams with winning records, which will test whether the offensive run is real.

New Orleans' pace has changed during the streak. The Pelicans are playing faster and taking more 3-pointers, which fits the roster better.

The next three games will show whether that is a real adjustment or a three-game hot streak.

Memphis' 6-0 start was the best record in the league and the best in franchise history, and it came without two of its top scorers for parts of it.

The loss does not undo that start, but it exposes the same thing every good team exposes: the Grizzlies' half-court offense struggles when the first option is taken away.

Cameron Boozer finished with 18 points and Jaylen Wells had 16, and the bench kept Memphis in the game in the second half.

Memphis' next game is on the road, and the schedule gets harder from here with three straight games against playoff teams.

The Grizzlies' defense has been the constant, and it was the part that failed in the final two minutes.

Memphis' half-court offense has been the question all season, and it is the reason the Grizzlies were 6-0 rather than 7-0.

The Grizzlies' next three games are against teams with winning records, which makes the answer more urgent.

The Pelicans' three-game winning streak is the first real evidence that the roster can compete, and it comes with the offense leading the way.

The Grizzlies' first loss is a reminder that an undefeated start is a schedule artifact as much as a statement.

New Orleans' next test is a better defensive team, which will make the scoring run harder to sustain.

Memphis' next test is the one every team faces after a first loss: whether the process looks the same.

Both teams play again this week, and both will be measured by whether this game repeats.

Both teams play again on Wednesday.