Pelicans (4-5), Mavericks (1-9)
DALLAS – Behind another big night from its All-Star duo and the team’s stingiest defensive performance of the season, New Orleans opened a four-game road trip with a victory, leading nearly all Friday in beating Dallas.
DeMarcus Cousins authored a 20-20 game (20 points, 22 rebounds, along with seven assists) while Anthony Davis led the New Orleans offensive attack with 30 points. Meanwhile, the Pelicans hadn’t given up fewer than 101 points in a game this season, but limited the Mavericks to just 94.
New Orleans grabbed a quick 15-5 edge and led every after quarter. The Pelicans took control in the first half by dominating under the rim, outscoring the Mavericks 32-16 in the paint.
IT WAS OVER WHEN…
Davis sank two free throws with four-plus minutes remaining after an extended New Orleans possession, giving the visitors a 91-74 lead and causing a few fans to head for the exits. Dallas tried to make a fourth-quarter run but was hindered greatly by a sputtering offense. The Mavs caused a few anxious moments later by cutting the gap to six in the final 30 seconds, before committing a costly bad-pass turnover.
PELICANS PLAYER OF THE GAME
Cousins notched the 13th game of 20 and 20 in his career, helping power New Orleans to a 55-46 halftime advantage by scoring 14 points. He feasted against the Dallas defense close to the hoop, dropping in multiple layups and adding putback scores and deft post-up moves in the second half. He established the tone for a 23-assist game by the Pelicans by finding open teammates, particularly early. “You look at DeMarcus and most nights he has seven assists, eight assists, nine assists,” Alvin Gentry complimented after the win.
QUOTES TO NOTE
“Like I said to the guys, it’s really tough to win on the road. For us to find a way to just hang in and win it, that’s the number one thing. All the other little things that happened are correctable.” – Gentry on opening the longest road trip of 2017-18 victorious and seeing Friday’s lead dissipate in the fourth quarter
“We are just trying to dominate in the paint. Knowing that (the Mavs) don’t really have a lot of rim protection, we did a great job of finding each other. Our guards did a great job of finding us and we made the right passes out of the double-teams.” – Davis on the success he and Cousins enjoyed as the hub of the offense for the Pelicans
“Dennis (Smith Jr.) is learning which guys he can attack and which guys are not the guys to go after.” – Dallas’ Rick Carlisle on his lottery pick’s decisions to try to shoot over Davis, who blocked Smith three separate times on drives
BY THE NUMBERS
14: New Orleans turnovers, a notable improvement from two previous losses at home to Orlando and Minnesota.
40 and 39: Minutes played by Davis and Cousins, respectively. With the second game of a back-to-back looming Saturday in Chicago, the Pelicans had a chance to give the duo some late-game rest Friday, but the pesky Mavs prevented that by hanging around in the fourth quarter.
38.6: Dallas shooting percentage from the field. The Mavs were 9/34 on three-pointers, with starters Smith, Wesley Matthews and Harrison Barnes combining to go 4/18.