Pelicans (9-8), Thunder (7-9)
Half of New Orleans’ perennial All-Star big-man duo was in the locker room in crunch time, but the Pelicans still managed to overtake Oklahoma City and its trio of All-Star performers Monday, coming up with more big plays late. Leading 87-86 entering the fourth quarter and with DeMarcus Cousins ejected due to a flagrant foul, New Orleans leaned on the offense of Anthony Davis and key plays by a series of others to knock off the Thunder.
Davis dropped in 18 points in both halves, finishing with a total of 36. He tallied 14 in the second quarter to push New Orleans back in the hunt after a poor start, then added 14 more in the final period. The Pelicans outscored the Thunder 27-21 in the decisive final 12 minutes.
IT WAS OVER WHEN…
Davis ended up with free throws after a Westbrook missed three-pointer in the final seconds, then sank both to give New Orleans a three-possession edge with 6 seconds remaining. New Orleans won the first game of a challenging two-game homestand, which concludes Wednesday vs. San Antonio.
PELICANS PLAYER OF THE GAME
Davis put the hosts on his back in the second half with Cousins unavailable. While establishing career highs in free throws made and attempted, Davis was too tough for Oklahoma City’s defense to handle; the Thunder often put a smaller defender on him, which allowed New Orleans to readily throw lobs and entry passes into the four-time All-Star. He shot 18 of 22 from the foul line, to account for half of his 36 points, and also grabbed 15 rebounds. One blemish was his seven turnovers, but he had to make countless decisions with the ball and a couple of those were the result of hustle plays that went bad.
Davis’ herculean effort also consisted of him playing the entire second half.
QUOTES TO NOTE
“After that little slump in the first quarter, we brought the energy. Our second team did amazing to get us back in this game. Hats off to them. They really brought the energy, and from there, we kind of picked it up and sustained it.” – Jrue Holiday (18 points) on the contributions by New Orleans reserves
“It’s a team effort. We all play a part. It’s not just two guys, or one guy, it’s everybody who steps on the floor. We didn’t get off to a good start, but once everything got rolling, everybody did a great job.” – Jameer Nelson, after being asked about the work of the bench, which shot a combined 11/15 from the field
“Our bench did a hell of a job bringing us back. It was a collective team effort.” – Rajon Rondo on the second unit
BY THE NUMBERS
26-23: New Orleans bench scoring advantage. That may not seem like that big of an edge, but consider that the Pelicans’ reserves only attempted 16 shots from the floor, while the Thunder subs shot 8/24.
5: Oklahoma City points in the initial five-plus minutes of the fourth quarter. New Orleans came up with a slew of defensive stops during that stretch, eventually going up by eight with 5:13 remaining.
3: At home games this season, Zatarain’s will donate meals to the Second Harvest Food Bank for every Pelicans dunk. Davis, Cousins and Tony Allen each threw down a slam, totaling three for New Orleans.