Fiery Rockets spoil Cousins’ Pelicans debut
New signing Williams shines in Houston win
>> LOS ANGELES: The Houston Rockets shot down new-look New Orleans 129-99 on Thursday, spoiling the Pelicans debut of DeMarcus Cousins with the help of a new arrival of their own.
Big man Cousins, acquired on Monday from the Sacramento Kings in a blockbuster trade involving five players and two draft picks, teamed well with Pelicans star Anthony Davis, the two combining for 56 points and 23 rebounds.
But the Rockets forced 20 turnovers and their own new signing, guard Lou Williams, scored a game-high 27 points in the triumph.
Williams, a 12-year veteran who came to the Rockets from the Los Angeles Lakers in a trade during the All-Star break made his 25 minutes off the bench count.
He hit his first two three-pointers and finished seven of 11 from long range.
Prior to the contest, Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said he expected Williams to “get his feet wet” in his first game with his new teammates — and he was pleased with the splash the newcomer made.
“He’s a ball player, so I knew that he’d be OK,” D’Antoni said. “I didn’t obviously know he was going to get 27. He just scores very easily. He’ll have a lot of room to operate.”
The Rockets, who set the NBA record for three-pointers in a game (24) in a 122-100 victory over the Pelicans in December, made 20 of 51 from beyond the arc.
Three other Rockets, who at one time played in New Orleans, had at least three three-pointers apiece. Eric Gordon made four, and Ryan Anderson and Trevor Ariza had three each.
Williams was one of six Houston players to score in double figures. Gordon added 19, Anderson 17, Clint Capella 13, James Harden 13 and Montrezl Harrell 10.
“We see the potential,” Cousins said. “We see what we need to work on. It’s going to be a process.”
In Cleveland, LeBron James recorded his 48th career triple-double and Kyrie Irving scored 23 points, leading the Cavaliers to a 119-104 win over the New York Knicks, who hung on to superstar Carmelo Anthony and Derrick Rose at the trade deadline.
James scored 18 points and had 13 rebounds with 15 assists for his sixth triple-double of the season.
Anthony, the subject of trade rumours because of a strained relationship with Knicks President of Basketball Operations Phil Jackson, scored 20 points, going nine of 25 from the field.
Kyle Korver scored 20 points for Cleveland, who are 8-1 in February and have beaten New York 10 straight times.
Courtney Lee had 25 points for New York, who have lost six of seven and are 12th in the Eastern Conference play-off race.
in Oakland, Stephen Curry scored 17 of his 35 points in a three-point flurry over the final 3:37 minutes of the third quarter, and the two-time reigning MVP also had seven rebounds, five assists and four steals as the Warriors used a big second half to beat the Los Angeles Clippers 123-113.
Curry’s four-point play with 30.7 seconds left in the third and buzzerbeating three to punctuate the onesided period propelled Golden State. Curry and Kevin Durant combined for eight of their team’s nine threepointers in the third.
The Warriors scored 50 points in the quarter after trailing 61-49 at halftime. It was the NBA’s first 50-point quarter since the Lakers had 51 against the Knicks on March 25, 2014.
Durant scored 15 of his 25 points in the third and also had 15 rebounds and seven assists as the NBA-best Warriors (48-9) began the stretch run with a dominant second half.