Pelicans 115, Kings 112
NEW ORLEANS -- Dante Cunningham nailed a go-ahead 3-pointer from the right corner and guard Jrue Holiday hit a 17-foot jumper in the final 36 seconds to lift the New Orleans Pelicans to a 115-112 victory over the Sacramento Kings Monday night at the Smoothie King Center.
The Kings, who blew a 17-point, second-half lead, cut the New Orleans advantage to 113-112 with a layup by Rudy Gay with eight seconds left, but guard Norris Cole made two free throws to extend the Pelicans’ lead to 115-112 with seven seconds remaining.
Then, without a timeout, the Kings inbounded the ball to reserve point guard Darren Collison, but Holiday picked his pocket near halfcourt to ice the victory and snap the Pelicans’ four-game losing streak.
The Pelicans, who were led by Anthony Davis’ 31 points and 10 rebounds, improved their record to 24-38.
The Kings (25-37) lost for the sixth time in seven games despite 40 points and 16 rebounds by center DeMarcus Cousins.
The Pelicans scored the first six points of the fourth quarter -- with four coming on a pair of layups by Holiday -- to tie the game at 89 with 8:39 left.
But just as suddenly, Marco Belinelli connected on a pair of 3-pointers in an 8-0 Sacramento run that put the Kings up 97-89.
New Orleans stayed within reach, getting a rebound dunk from Ryan Anderson and a layup from Davis to make it 108-104, but Davis missed his fifth free throw in nine attempts, which could have made it a three-point game with 3:11 left.
But New Orleans drew within 110-108 on Davis’ rebound and dunk with 2:07 left. New Orleans got possession with 45 seconds left, and Norris Cole drove the baseline, threw a pass into the right corner to forward Dante Cunningham, who nailed the go-ahead 3-pointer to give New Orleans at 111-110 lead at 35.9 seconds.
The Kings built a 69-52 lead early in the third quarter, but New Orleans closed the period with a 17-9 run to cut the deficit to 89-83 entering the fourth quarter. Davis came alive with 17 third-quarter points.
Cousins dominated the first half, scoring 23 points on 11-of-16 shooting, connecting from both the inside and the perimeter, and Rudy Gay added 13.
The Kings made 13 of 19 shots on their way to a 32-17 second quarter to take a 63-50 halftime. Sacramento shot 54.2 percent in the half on 26-of-48 shooting and dominated the Pelicans in the paint, 36-26.
The Pelicans led 33-31 after the first period, but their sloppy ball-handling finally caught up to them in the second quarter. New Orleans committed 15 first-half turnovers, which led to 15 Sacramento points. Davis committed four of the turnovers and had just eight points in the first half.
Cole led the short-handed Pelicans, who dressed only nine players with 14 first-half points.
NOTES: The injuries continue to pile up for the Pelicans. With G Eric Gordon fracturing his right ring finger for the second time in six weeks, he is likely to miss the rest of the season. Pelicans players have missed a total of 168 games due to injury. F Quincy Pondexter (left knee), SG Tyreke Evans (right knee) and rookie SG Bryce Dejean-Jones (fractured right wrist) have had season-ending surgeries. "I've never dealt with anything like this," New Orleans coach Alvin Gentry said. "You have a guy out or maybe two guys out, but I've never had a situation where it's pretty much hit all of the starters at one time or another." ... Although the Kings entered the game having lost 13 of their previous 18 games, they have gotten great performances off the bench from G Darren Collison, who has averaged 14.3 points and 3.3 assists in his last three games.