Davis scores team-record 59 points in Pelicans win
auburn hills ( michigan) — Anthony Davis scored a team-record 59 points and added 20 rebounds as the New Orleans Pelicans beat the Detroit Pistons 111-106 on Sunday.
The previous club record was 50 points by Jamal Mashburn, set exactly 13 years earlier against the Grizzlies. Davis went 24 of 34 from the floor and made his only two 3-pointers. He added nine free throws in 10 tries.
Davis also broke the scoring record at the Palace of Auburn Hills, set by LeBron James with 48 points in an Eastern Conference finals game on June 1, 2007. The star center joined Shaquille O’Neal and Chris Webber as the only NBA players with 50 points and 20 rebounds in a game since 1983.
“That was a lot of fun because the rim looked so big that it felt like everything I shot was going to go in,” Davis said. “I wasn’t keeping track of my point total, but the guys were telling me at the timeouts. They wanted me to get 60.”
Jrue Holiday added 20 points for the Pelicans. He was the only other player to score in double figures for New Orleans.
Elsewhere, Cleveland topped Oklahoma City 115-92 on the road for its fifth straight victory, San Antonio pulled away late for a 118-111 win over Phoenix, and surging Portland earned its fifth straight win, beating Utah 115-111.
In Oklahoma City, Kevin Love scored 29 points on 9-of-18 shooting from the field to match his second-best scoring performance of the season. —