Davis is shut down, then Pelicans prevail
Jrue Holiday has escaped the rash of injuries undermining the New Orleans Pelicans this season and increasingly looks like the All- Star he once was.
Shortly after learning teammate Anthony Davis would miss the rest of this season, Holiday scored 22 points and the Pelicans upended the visiting Los Angeles Clippers 109- 105 on Sunday night.
“I guess from an oncourt standpoint, I’m going to have to take a lot of the load, directing guys,” said Holiday, who also had eight assists.
Traded from Philadelphia to New Orleans in 2013, Holiday missed most of the previous two seasons with injury problems, but has progressed beyond the minutes restriction with which he began his third season in New Orleans and is averaging nearly 17 points per game.
With the offense running through Holiday, several role players had their best games in a while.
Omer Asik scored a season- high 15 points with 14 rebounds and Dante Cunningham had a season- high 19 points. Reserve guard Tim Frazier added a season- high 17 points.
“We did a great job of competing like crazy,” New Orleans head coach Alvin Gentry said. “At some stage, I thought everyone stepped in and did something that was real positive for the team.”
Chris Paul and J. J. Redick each scored 24 points and Paul also had 13 assists for the Clippers, who lost in Memphis on Saturday night.
“There are no excuses. There is no fatigue,” Paul said. “We lost. No excuses. We didn’t defend well enough. We waited too late to put our imprint on the game.”
The Clippers trailed by 11 with 1: 27 left, but nearly tied it in the span of a minute. DeAndre Jordan’s dunk made it 104- 103 and he was fouled on the play, but missed his free- throw try. In the final seconds, Austin Rivers missed a three- point shot that would have tied it.
As for Davis, the Pelicans decided not to push things after he hurt his left knee Friday night. He was already playing with a torn labrum in his left shoulder.
“He’s a smart kid and he understands that it’s better to go ahead and any problems that you have, you get them taken care of now and you’ve basically got seven months before training camp starts again,” Gentry said. “That gives you a big window to do whatever you have to do and move forward with it.” Mavericks 132, Blazers 120: Dirk Nowitzki scored 40 points and Deron Williams added 31 points and 16 assists as host Dallas beat Portland in overtime. Williams made a tiebreaking three- pointer in overtime before Nowitzki scored eight straight points, all on assists by Williams. “It’s my job as a point guard,” Williams said. “You’ve got to know when your good fella’s hot.” The Mavericks moved a half- game behind the Trail Blazers for the sixth playoff position in the Western Conference. Damian Lillard led Portland with 26 points, but made only 8 of 26 field- goal attempts.
Jazz 94, Bucks 85: Gordon Hayward scored 18 points, including 13 during a decisive third quarter, for visiting Utah. Trey Lyles added 14 points for the Jazz, who won for the fifth time in six games. Utah is in the midst of a five- game trip and won for just the third time in its past 11 road games to remain one game back of the eighth and final playoff spot in the West. Jabari Parker had 19 points and eight rebounds for Milwaukee. Raptors 105, Magic 100: DeMar DeRozan scored 25 points and Luis Scola added 20 as host Toronto moved to one game behind Cleveland for the Eastern Conference lead. Trailing 91- 85 with 7: 54 left, the Raptors scored 10 straight points to lead by four with 5: 22 left. A three- pointer from Orlando’s Evan Fournier with 1: 11 remaining cut the lead to 97- 96, but DeRozan responded with a floating jumper with 53.9 seconds left and added a free throw after being fouled by Ersan Ilyasova to open up a four- point edge.
Kings 88, Knicks 80: DeMarcus Cousins had 24 points and 20 rebounds and visiting Sacramento had its best defensive performance of the season. The Kings, who came in allowing a league- worst 109.6 points per game, surpassed their previous best of 88 points allowed, shutting down a New York team that played without leading scorer Carmelo Anthony. Robin Lopez had 23 points and 20 rebounds for the Knicks.
Celtics 120, 76ers 105: Isaiah Thomas led six Boston players in double figures with 26 points as the visiting Celtics snapped a four- game skid. Jared Sullinger added 17 points and 13 rebounds for Boston, which swept the four- game season series against Philadelphia. Carl Landry scored 26 points for the 76ers, who have lost five in a row and 18 of 19 to fall to 9- 61. The possibility of Philadelphia matching the 1972- 73 76ers ( 9- 73) for the worst record over an 82- game schedule is growing. Eight of Philadelphia’s 12 remaining games are against clubs who began Sunday with winning records. Seven of the 12 games are on the road.