Pelicans ride Davis to win
New Orleans star Anthony Davis dominated Detroit as he usually does, scoring all over the court no matter who was trying to defend him in a red, white and blue uniform.
In another one of his strong performances against the Pistons, Davis had 38 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Pelicans to a 118-103 victory on Monday night.
Davis is averaging 30.4 points per game against the Pistons, his highest total against an NBA team. He scored a career-high 59 against them nearly two years ago.
“It’s not just them,” New Orleans coach Alvin Gentry said. “It might be him.”
Davis is a key reason why the Pelicans have won 11 of the past 12 games against the Pistons.
Detroit attempted to defend Davis with Andre Drummond and Blake Griffin, but they were no match for Davis inside, off the dribble or on the outside. The All-Star was 14 of 24 from the field, including 3 for 6 on 3-pointers.
“I’m playing him as tough as possible, and I didn’t give him any easy layups,” Drummond said. “He’s just a hell of a player, and he’s making contested jumpers and contested 3s.”
Davis had 10 points in the second quarter, powering New Orleans to a 60-52 lead at halftime.
Nikola Mirotic helped the Pelicans pull away in the third quarter and finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds.
“We were terrible on defense,” Detroit coach Stan Van Gundy said. “I don’t think we did anything well. When you aren’t getting back in transition and you won’t get your body between the ball and the basket, you aren’t tough enough to win.”
New Orleans has won two straight for the first time since DeMarcus Cousins tore his left Achilles tendon. The Pelicans are 3-5 without the All-Star center. 76ERS 108, KNICKS 92 >> Dario Saric scored 24 points to lead Philadelphia past New York for its fourth straight win.
J.J. Redick had 18 points and Joel Embiid scored 17 for the 76ers, who won their 10th straight at home to remain in playoff position in the Eastern Conference. Reserve T.J. McConnell had a triple-double with 10 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists.
Michael Beasley scored 22 points for the Knicks, who have dropped seven in a row. Courtney Lee had 18 points in his first game coming off the bench this season for New York. CLIPPERS 114, NETS 101 >> Lou Williams scored 20 points and DeAndre Jordan had 16 points and 17 rebounds to lead a balanced attack for Los Angeles in its victory over New Jersey.
The Clippers had seven players in double figures and shot 56.5 percent from the field in its fourth win in five games.
Austin Rivers scored 17 points, and reserve Montrezl Harrell added 15 on 6-for-6 shooting. The Clippers made 19 of their first 26 shots and won for the 12th time in 17 games.
D’Angelo Russell and Joe Harris each scored 16 for the Nets, who dropped their sixth straight.
BULLS 105, MAGIC 101 >> Zach LaVine had a tiebreaking dunk for Chicago after stealing an inbounds pass in the closing seconds of the Bulls’ victory over Orlando.
The Bulls blew an 18-point lead in the fourth quarter but still came away with their second win in three games after dropping seven in a row.
Lauri Markkanen scored 21 points, and LaVine finished with 18 points and seven rebounds.
Hezonja led Orlando with 24 points, and Evan Fournier scored 22.
JAZZ 101, SPURS 99 >> Donovan Mitchell scored 25 points, including a goahead pull-up jumper with 39.2 seconds left, to help Utah extend its league-best winning streak to 10 games with a win over San Antonio.
The Jazz (29-28) moved above .500 for the first time in more than two months.
Kyle Anderson scored 16 points and Pau Gasol had 15 points and 15 rebounds for the Spurs, who lost to Utah for the third time this season.