New Orleans Pelicans forward Herb Jones didn’t produce an impressive stat line during Friday night’s game against the Sacramento Kings in the NBA play-in tournament.

The former Alabama standout finished with five points on three shots. He missed both his free throws with 20 seconds to play and filled out his line with one rebound, four assists, one steal and one blocked shot.

But after the Pelicans’ 105-98 victory over the Kings, New Orleans center Larry Nance Jr. had nothing but praise for Jones.

“If you could design the perfect player to play in today’s NBA basketball, it’s Herb Jones,” Nance said. “My man is shooting 40-something percent from 3, he guards the team’s best players every single night, he’s 6-7 with a 7-something wing span. He deserves all the flowers he’s been getting this year, and I think he deserves more. Physically, you can’t back him down. Mentality-wise, the dude’s ready for every moment. Wants to take the big shot. He’s another guy, I know I talked about the rest of my teammates, but Herb is deserving of every award he’s about to get.”

An 86.7 percent free-throw shooter this season, Jones responded to his two misses at line by closing out the game for the Pelicans.

With 13 seconds to play, Jones blocked a 3-point shot by Sacramento guard De’Aaron Fox, who scored 35 points on Friday night. He put an exclamation point on the New Orleans victory by going in for a breakaway dunk with eight seconds remaining.

The victory secured the final spot in the NBA playoffs for the Pelicans. As the eighth seed in the West, New Orleans will open a best-of-seven series against the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder at 8:30 p.m. CDT Sunday at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City. TNT will televise the game.

With a 49-33 regular-season record, the Pelicans finished seventh in the Western Conference standings. But they lost the opening game of the play-in tournament to the No. 8 Los Angeles Lakers 110-106 on Tuesday night. That advanced the Lakers into the NBA playoffs as the seventh seed against the No. 2 Denver Nuggets.

Friday night’s game was the last chance to get into the playoffs, with the Pelicans matched against Sacramento after the No. 9 Kings defeated the No. 10 Golden State Warriors 118-94 in the play-in tournament on Tuesday night.

In the loss to the Lakers, New Orleans center Zion Williamson scored 40 points. But he also suffered a hamstring injury that likely will keep him off the court against the Thunder.

A former Hale County High School star, Jones is among the four players from Alabama high schools and colleges who are participating in the NBA playoffs. Two are in the same first-round series.

Forward Isaac Okoro (Auburn) and the fourth-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers square off against forward Chuma Okeke (Auburn) and the fifth-seeded Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference. Game 1 of the best-of-seven series tips off at 11 a.m. Saturday at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland. ESPN will televise the game.

Forward Kobe Brown (Lee-Huntsville) will continue his rookie season in the playoffs with the Los Angeles Clippers. The fourth-seeded Clippers are matched against the No. 5 Dallas Mavericks in a Western Conference series that starts at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. ABC will televise the game.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.