Celtics at Pelicans
The New Orleans Pelicans had their season altered for the worse the last time they played the Boston Celtics. The Pelicans will be looking for a little revenge when they host the Celtics on Sunday. New Orleans won in Boston on Jan. 3 but lost Ryan Anderson to a season-ending back injury in the process and went on to drop eight straight games while tumbling out of contention for one of the final playoff spots in the Western Conference.
The Pelicans lost Jrue Holiday to a stress fracture in his leg days after losing Anderson and tumbled from 15-16 after the win in Boston to their current 13 games under .500. New Orleans remains dangerous as long as Anthony Davis is on the court, and the All-Star power forward put up a career-high 36 points as the Pelicans gave the Portland Trail Blazers all they could handle before suffering a 111-103 loss on Friday. Boston squandered an opportunity against the Phoenix Suns on Friday in dropping its third straight game.
TV: 6 p.m. ET, CSN New England (Boston), FSN New Orleans
ABOUT THE CELTICS (22-44): Coach Brad Stevens and forward Kris Humphries have been two of a few positive fixtures on the Boston squad this season but finally let some frustration boil over after the loss to the Suns, in which the Celtics had the game tied a 80 before falling 87-80. Humphries, who collected 11 points and 13 rebounds in the loss, left the bench with a few seconds left after throwing a towel in anger when the game began to turn. “That was not a good ending,” Stevens told reporters. “It was not a good performance. I thought we shot probably worse shots than we’ve shot for a while. We missed 65 shots. That’s pretty incredible that we had a chance to win.”
ABOUT THE PELICANS (26-39): Davis is averaging 30.8 points on 56.6 percent shooting and 13 rebounds over his last five games while drawing heavy praise from his teammates. “He’s showing the player that he is, can be and will be,” point guard Brian Roberts told reporters. “When he’s aggressive and just focused and locked in, that’s the kind of production you’re going to get, night in and night out. He understands that now. He’s showing his level of talent.” Davis put up 23 points on 9-of-12 shooting in the 95-92 win at Boston on Jan. 3.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Pelicans have taken four straight and six of seven in the series
2. New Orleans G Tyreke Evans is helping Davis with 21.3 points and 7.3 assists in his last four games.
3. Boston G Avery Bradley (ankle) returned after a 13-game absence and scored nine points in 17 minutes on Friday.