Pelicans at Mavericks
Anthony Davis keeps sitting out and the New Orleans Pelicans keep winning games and they look to add another to a season-best five-game winning streak when they visit the Dallas Mavericks on Monday. Davis has missed the last four games with a shoulder injury and not having the All-Star forward hasn’t proven to be a problem with center Omer Asik averaging 12.5 rebounds during the stretch. Asik grabbed 16 – one shy of his season high – in Sunday’s 99-92 win over the Denver Nuggets.
Dallas lost to the Brooklyn Nets 104-94 on Saturday and had to do some adjusting with both center Tyson Chandler (hip) and small forward Chandler Parsons (ankle) on the sidelines. The Mavericks went with a three-guard alignment of Monta Ellis, Rajon Rondo and usual reserve J.J. Barea and even moved Dirk Nowitzki to center but it was to no avail as they lost to a team they were expected to beat. “Especially with the race that we’re in, we couldn’t afford to lose this one,” guard Devin Harris told reporters. “You know, we can’t dwell on it too much. We’ve got another one on Monday, and we’ve just got to play with more energy and play together.”
TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, FSN New Orleans, FSN Southwest (Dallas)
ABOUT THE PELICANS (32-27): New Orleans lost its first two meetings against Dallas this season to make it nine straight losses to the Mavericks before notching a 109-106 win on Jan. 25. The Pelicans scored 62 second-half points on Sunday to slide away from Denver as the team continues to play well without Davis, forward Ryan Anderson (knee) and point guard Jrue Holiday (leg). “Winning takes the pressure off of them right now,” forward Dante Cunningham told reporters. “This allows them to completely heal up and not necessarily rush back or think they have to be here for the team right now.”
ABOUT THE MAVERICKS (39-22): Point guard Rajon Rondo returned from a one-game suspension for clashing with coach Rick Carlisle and had just eight points and six assists while committing four turnovers in the loss to the Nets. Rondo got in a couple of heated shouting matches with Carlisle over who should be handling the play-calling duties and the coach was still in charge of that during the loss to Brooklyn. “That’s just the way it is,” Rondo told reporters. “That’s the system. I’m still learning and I’ll find a way.”
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Dallas is 20-2 at home against New Orleans.
2. The Pelicans are 6-5 this season when Davis sits out.
3. Nowitzki’s next 3-pointer will snap a tie with Tim Hardaway (1,542) for 20th place on the all-time list.