LDN - Sports

Davis returns to lead Pelicans over Blazers

[November 19, 2016] NEW ORLEANS -- Anthony Davis had been absent for just one game, but Jrue Holiday had been absent for the first 12 games of the season.

When they both returned Friday night, they led the New Orleans Pelicans to a 113-101 victory against the Portland Trail Blazers in the Smoothie King Center.

Davis, who missed an 89-82 loss at Orlando on Thursday because of a bruised quad, scored a game-high 38 points. Holiday, who had been out since the start of training camp to be with his wife Lauren, who gave birth to the couple's first child and underwent brain surgery, came off the bench to score 21.

The Blazers (7-7), losing a night after they lost at Houston to start a five-game road trip, visit Brooklyn on Sunday. New Orleans (3-10) hosts Charlotte on Saturday.

"I think we had a much better flow down the stretch," Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry said. "When we needed baskets, we went with Jrue and A.D., which is what we went with a lot last year. I thought they were able to come up with easy baskets and make easy plays."

Terrence Jones, who started in Davis' place and scored a career-high 26 points against Orlando, came off the bench to score 15. Tim Frazier, who has started at point guard in Holiday's absence, scored 12 and E'Twaun Moore had 11.

"These guys made it easy for me," Holiday said. "We were trying to get into the rhythm and I think the way they were moving the ball before I came just kind of helped. They were all really encouraging and they were passing the ball and looking for me so it felt good."

Damian Lillard led Portland with 27 points, but he made just 8-of-24 shots. C.J. McCollum scored 24, Mason Plumlee had 13 and Maurice Harkless 10.

The Blazers have lost three in a row by an average margin of 18 points.

"It's a long year, we're not in panic mode," said forward Ed Davis, who had 11 rebounds in 21 minutes. "I mean it is an 82-game season. We just finished with game 14. We are still working on things.

"We obviously are not playing the best basketball right now, but we are still .500. It's not like we are on an eight-game losing streak, but we are on a three-game losing streak. We just need to take it one day at a time, stay together and see what happens."

Led by Holiday, the New Orleans bench outscored the Portland bench, 46-35.

The Blazers cut a 13-point halftime deficit to eight points early in the third quarter, but Davis responded with six straight points.

Holiday scored six points as the Pelicans took an 88-75 lead after three quarters. He had 10 points and four points in the fourth quarter and New Orleans maintained a double-digit lead throughout.

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"You can feel it, you can see it, we want to be better," Lillard said. "I think once we figure out how to be consistently good at the things we want to do and consistently execute (we'll be all right)."

Davis started slowly, scoring just two points in the first quarter and a half, but after making just one of his first six shots, he made 13-of-16 the rest of the way.

New Orleans outshot Portland 54.9 percent to 37.5 percent, but the Blazers outscored the Pelicans 24-2 in second-chance points. They had 13 offensive rebounds and the Pelicans had a franchise-low one.

Holiday entered the game late in the first quarter and had three points and one assist as the Pelicans took a 31-28 lead after one quarter.

The lead changed hands 12 times and there were three ties in the first quarter, but New Orleans never relinquished the lead after the first quarter and never led by fewer than eight points in the second half.

Davis was quiet for much of the first half, but heated up during the final five minutes of the second quarter.

He went nearly 15 minutes without scoring, but New Orleans still had a 45-41 lead midway through the second quarter.

Davis made three baskets and two free throws as he scored eight consecutive Pelicans points. Rookie Buddy Hield ended the streak with a jumper before Davis made consecutive baskets.

Hield made a 3-pointer before Davis finished the first-half scoring with a layup that gave New Orleans a 64-51 halftime lead.

NOTES: The game was Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry's 800th regular-season game as an NBA head coach in a career that includes stints with four other franchises -- the Suns, Clippers, Pistons and Heat. ... New Orleans F Dante Cunningham (2009-11) and G Tim Frazier (2015-16) played for Portland. ... Blazers F Al-Farouq Aminu played with the Pelicans from 2011-14. Aminu (left calf) and Blazers C Festus Ezeli (left knee) did not dress. ... Pelicans G/F Tyreke Evans (right knee) and G/F Quincy Pondexter (left knee) did not dress. ... Portland won three of four games against New Orleans last season and has won the season series each of the last three seasons. ... The Pelicans entered the game with the worst 3-point shooting percentage (.291) in the NBA. "We need better shooting," Gentry said. "That's the key for us right now."

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