Holiday fits the bill as Pelicans put down Pistons
DETROIT Jrue Holiday scored 37 points and Julius Randle added 28 to help the New Orleans Pelicans beat the Detroit Pistons 116-108 on Sunday.
Pelicans star Anthony Davis left with a right hip injury after a first-quarter collision with Blake Griffin. Davis returned early in the third quarter, but finished with only six points — three before the injury. He also had five blocks and nine rebounds.
“Jrue Holiday was a really tough challenge for Bruce (Brown) to handle by himself, and even when we sent Reggie (Jackson) over to help, he still had his way with us,” Pistons coach Dwane Casey said. “We are getting great looks on the other end, but we’ve got to knock them down.”
Griffin scored 35 points for Detroit, Andre Drummond had 23 points and 19 rebounds, and Langston Galloway added a season-best 24 off the bench. The Pistons have lost four straight.
Holiday had 18 points in the first half, and New Orleans led by 11 before the Pistons cut it to 56-50.
“We just executed our game plan,” Randle said. “Everything was coming extremely easily for Jrue and when he gets rolling, he doesn’t miss.”
Davis returned at the first stoppage in the third quarter and helped the Pelicans take a 78-62 lead midway through the period. He was clearly limited on the offensive end but was able to get stops on defence.
Griffin and Galloway combined for 26 points in the period and had the Pistons within four points until Tim Frazier’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer made it 91-84 going to the fourth.
Detroit quickly narrowed the gap to 93-91, but the Pelicans responded with a 7-1 run to take an eight-point lead.
Drummond missed two free throws with 4:03 left, then fouled Randle at the other end.
He hit both shots to make it 107-98, and the Pelicans held on to win.
New Orleans has won 16 of its last 20 against Detroit, including 12 of the last 13.
Alvin Gentry, who coached the Pistons from 1997-2000, is 16-5 against them as a head coach.
Detroit’s Galloway has hit at least four 3-pointers six times in the last 15 games.
Reggie Jackson missed his first five shots and didn’t score until 4:26 remained in the game.
Both teams return to action on Monday. The Pelicans are in Boston to battle the Celtics, while the Pistons travel to Philadelphia to tangle with the 76ers.