Davis booed by home crowd but wins fans
Anthony Davis didn’t need long to win back the home crowd after being booed during his pre-game introduction and the first few chances he had to handle the ball.
But the New Orleans Pelicans sought to close out a close game without Davis on the court anyway – and narrowly pulled it off.
Playing for first time since asking to be traded, Davis had 32 points, nine rebounds and three blocks in 25 minutes, and the Pelicans beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 122-117 in the NBA yesterday.
Jrue Holiday had 27 points and nine assists and Kenrich
Williams had 19 points – and they led the Pelicans offence in the fourth quarter, when Davis was kept on the bench, despite the fact that the teams were separated by as little as one basket several times in the waning minutes. Instead of playing Davis, Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry sent in Julius Randle, who came through with a pair of inside baskets and clutch free throws in the final minutes.
Karl-Anthony Towns scored 32 points for Minnesota, and his driving dunk pulled the Timberwolves as close as 114-112 in the final minute. But Randle responded with one of his late baskets inside and then rebounded Towns’ missed jump hook with 16 seconds left.
Davis looked determined from the outset to justify his continued presence on the court, however awkward it may be for a franchise that had seemed inclined to move on without him.
Pressured by the NBA not to sit a healthy star they had refused to unload by Friday’s trading deadline for this season, the Pelicans announced that Davis would return to the starting lineup.
He scored 10 points in the first seven minutes. In the opening minutes, he went strong to the rim while being booed and dunked, at which point a segment of the crowd cheering largely drowned out the boo-birds. Later, as Davis stood on the foul line taking free throws, part of the crowd booed while others chanted, ‘‘A-D, A-D!’’
By halftime, Davis had 24 points and his highlights included a reverse alley-oop tip at the front of the rim while being fouled and crashing to the floor on his back. Davis was fine, and reached the 30-point mark before the middle of the third quarter.
Andrew Wiggins had 23 points for Minnesota, who shot and rebounded marginally better than New Orleans, but were outscored 27-16 at the free throw line.
In Phoenix, Stephen Curry scored 10 of his 20 points in the final quarter to help Golden State overcome the Suns 117-107 for their 11th consecutive road win.
Klay Thompson led the Warriors with 25 points and Kevin Durant added 21 points and eight rebounds.
❚ THE NEW-LOOK Philadelphia 76ers made a strong first impression with little time practicing together.
JJ Redick scored a seasonhigh 34 points, Jimmy Butler had 22 and the Sixers beat the Denver Nuggets 117-110 with four players making their debut.
Tobias Harris had 14 points and eight rebounds in his first game for Philadelphia and Joel Embiid scored 15 and grabbed 12 boards, despite playing with a stomach flu.
The Sixers made a flurry of moves before Friday’s trade deadline, acquiring Harris, Boban Marjanovic and Mike
Scott from the Clippers, James Ennis from Houston, and Jonathon Simmons from Orlando.
‘‘You couldn’t ask for any better,’’ Harris said. ‘‘To play like that, get that reaction from fans, it meant a lot to me. It was awesome. Feels good to be appreciated.’’
Nikola Jokic led Denver with 27 points and Jamal Murray had 23. The Nuggets, who have the second-best record (37-18) in the Western Conference behind Golden State, were missing two of their top five scorers: Gary
Harris and Paul Millsap.
‘‘You look at that starting lineup, aside from Redick, they have size, length and athleticism,’’ Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. ‘‘They’re tough to handle.’’
Harris hit a jumper to give the Sixers a 105-103 lead with under four minutes left and then grabbed a rebound to set up Embiid’s layup. Jimmy Butler stole the ball, got fouled and hit a pair of free throws to extend.