NEW ORLEANS -- Anthony Davis used his potent combination of quickness and length to reject high-scoring Thunder guard Russell Westbrook late in the fourth quarter. The clutch defensive play led directly to a transition 3-pointer on the other end by Ryan Anderson while Davis lay on his back, clutching his knee after an awkward landing.
"I
wasn't coming out. I can tell you that," said Davis, who stayed in the
game after a timeout, adding a pair of clutch free throws and a key
rebound in the final minute. "It feels good now."
Davis scored 30 points and blocked four shots, three Pelicans reserves combined for 60 points, and New Orleans beat the Oklahoma City Thunder, 123-119 on Thursday night.
Anderson scored 26 points in a little less than 26 minutes off the bench, while guard Jrue Holiday added 22 points, also in fewer than 26 minutes. Reserve guard Toney Douglas scored 12 points in 14 minutes, with 10 points coming in the fourth quarter.
"It's
fun; everybody's involved and we're moving the ball, finding the open
man, so it's just a different vibe when we play like that," Anderson
said. "Jrue's playing really, really well. He helps me and I think we
just have good chemistry coming off the bench."
Westbrook scored 44 points and Kevin Durant
32 for Oklahoma City, which trailed by 12 with a little more than 3
minutes left but got within two on Durant's 3 with 13 seconds left.
Holiday, who also had nine assists, made a pair of clutch free throws shortly after for the final margin.
Norris Cole scored 21 points and Dante Cunningham
added 10 in a starting role for New Orleans, hitting both 3-pointers he
took. The Pelicans were 12 of 20 from 3-point range, while Oklahoma
City was 8 of 19.
"They did whatever they wanted and we didn't
show any resistance," Durant said. "They got confidence. ... We didn't
help (defensively) as much as we should have and that caused us to be in
scramble mode."
Davis's soaring block on Westbrook came with 3:28
to go and Anderson's 3 seconds later made it 117-105. The Thunder
quickly trimmed its deficit on Westbrook's driving layup and 3, followed
by Durant's layup, which made it 119-116 with 1:14 to go.
New
Orleans went to Davis on its next possession. He was fouled in the lane
and sank two free throws. Davis then rebounded Westbrook's miss and
Durant lost a rebound of Holiday's miss out of bounds, allowing New
Orleans to run the clock down to 18 seconds left before the Thunder got
the ball back, still trailing by five.
UNIBROW RISING
Davis
has scored 30 or more twice in the last five days, including 59 points
in a victory at Detroit last Sunday. His play is giving New Orleans,
which has won five of seven, faint hope of climbing back into contention
for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
"He's
playing great basketball," Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry said. "The
unfortunate thing for him is that ... we're not winning enough games
that people are talking about it."
LAGGING DEFENSE
Thunder
coach Billy Donovan had no issue with his team's 54.7 percent shooting,
or its point total approaching 120. He could even live with the
Pelicans' 25 points off of 14 Thunder turnovers.
"It's just our
defense and the numbers we gave up on that end of the floor," Donovan
said, contrasting his team's effort from a victory in Dallas on
Wednesday night. "Coming out to start the first quarter, that was the
tell-tale sign for us when we gave up (35 points). ... We just didn't
come out and play at the same level defensively."
TIP INS
Thunder: Serge Ibaka scored 15 points and had two blocks, including one on 7-footer Alexis Ajinca
near the basket. ... Durant scored 20 or more points for a 43rd
straight game. ... Oklahoma City had won the previous two meetings with
New Orleans. They do not meet again this season.
Pelicans: Shortly before the game, the Pelicans announced that rookie guard Bryce Dejean-Jones,
who'd been a fill-in starter much of the past month, was diagnosed with
a fractured right wrist earlier in the day and was scheduled for
surgery on Friday. Because he was out, injury-plagued New Orleans opened
the game with its 26th different starting lineup this season, with Cole
at point guard, Alonzo Gee at shooting guard, Cunningham at small forward, Davis at power forward and Ajinca at center.
UP NEXT
Thunder: Host Golden State on Saturday night.
Pelicans: Host Minnesota on Saturday night.
A blog for fans of the sport of basketball,whether you're a fan of the NBA,the WNBA,college basketball,or the various other professional leagues out there, like the D-League
No comments:
Post a Comment