Davis dominates
Pelicans’ star shines in slim victory over Mavericks
LOS ANGELES: Anthony Davis delivered a season-high 48 points and 17 rebounds as the New Orleans Pelicans snapped a five-game losing skid with a 114-112 win over the Dallas Mavericks.
Davis made the go-ahead jumper with 43 seconds remaining and the Mavericks failed to get off a shot on the final possession with four seconds left.
“We came out in the second half with a lot more energy on the defensive end and were able to come up with the win,” said Davis, who had 45 points and 15 rebounds in the same game for the ninth time in his NBA career.
Luka Doncic scored 34 points and hit seven of 10 from beyond the arc, and Harrison Barnes had 21 points for the Mavericks.
The Pelicans dominated in the paint, scoring 70 points, including 22 from Julius Randle.
Dallas outscored the Pelicans from long range in the first half, cruising to a 66-55 lead.
But Davis kept the Pelicans within striking distance with 22 first-half points on nine-of-15 shooting.
The Pelicans continued to chip away, outscoring Dallas 31-22 in the third quarter to pull within 88-86.
The Pelicans took their first lead since late in the first quarter on Frank Jackson’s three-pointer, which made it 99-96 with just under eight minutes left.
Even while playing without LeBron James on the tail end of a back-to-back set, the Los Angeles Lakers managed to carve out a double-digit lead in the third quarter against the Los Angeles Clippers.
That’s when the Clippers’ four toughest defenders clamped down and Sweet Lou went wild to win this basketball-loving city’s first rivalry game of the season.
Lou Williams had a season-high 36 points and the Clippers scored 22 consecutive points during the second half of a 118-107 victory over the depleted Lakers on Friday night.
Danilo Gallinari added 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Clippers, who held the Lakers without a field goal for more than six minutes while matching the longest unanswered scoring run by any team in the NBA this season.
“We were just a little sluggish,” Williams said.
“We were just a step slow. We knew they were on a back-to-back, but for whatever reason, we just weren’t playing our best until we put a good stretch together in the third and then busted the game wide open in the fourth.”
Elsewhere, Nikola Vucevic tallied 30 points and 20 rebounds as the Orlando Magic swatted the Toronto Raptors off their lofty perch with a 116-87 victory.
The Raptors came into the game with the best record in the NBA but dropped to 26-11 on the season to fall a couple percentage points back of the Milwaukee Bucks. — Agencies