Kings at Pelicans
Just when it looked like the New Orleans Pelicans were building some momentum in a positive direction, the injury bug struck again. The Pelicans will wait and see if star forward Anthony Davis is available to help them stop DeMarcus Cousins and the visiting Sacramento Kings on Thursday.
Davis took an inadvertent elbow from teammate Tyreke Evans to the temple on Monday and left with a concussion as New Orleans suffered a 112-111 home loss to the Houston Rockets. Davis, who was averaging 26 points in guiding the Pelicans to wins in five of six games prior to Monday’s setback, will have to clear the league’s concussion protocol before returning to the lineup. Cousins was due for a letdown after totaling 104 points and 25 rebounds in two games and slumped to 17 points on 4-of-21 shooting in a 112-97 loss at Portland on Tuesday. The Kings were playing the second night of a back-to-back after Cousins had set a Sacramento-era franchise record with 56 points in a double-overtime loss to the Charlotte Hornets.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, CSN California (Sacramento), FSN New Orleans
ABOUT THE KINGS (20-25): Cousins grabbed five rebounds on Tuesday to end a string of 11 straight double-doubles, but point guard Rajon Rondo managed to keep his own double-double streak alive. The mercurial veteran is settling in nicely with the Kings while shoveling his pinpoint passes to Cousins on the inside and has posted six straight double-doubles, with a pair of triple-doubles in the mix. Rondo, who had 15 points and 11 assists in the loss to Portland on Tuesday, scored only seven points on Monday but managed 10 rebounds and 20 assists for the unconventional double-double.
ABOUT THE PELICANS (16-28): New Orleans went 0-5 during a five-game stretch in November in which Davis sat out all or parts of four of the contests with a hip contusion, and the team lost all three games the star forward missed all or part of with a bruised lower back earlier this month. The Pelicans are as healthy as they had been all season despite Davis’ latest ailment, and it shows with the team averaging 110.4 points over the last seven games. Point guard Jrue Holiday eased his way through the first two months while recovering from a leg injury but matched a season high with 36 minutes on Monday while scoring a season-best 32 points.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Pelicans G Toney Douglas is 11-of-16 from the field in the last two games, including 7-of-10 from 3-point range.
2. Kings F Rudy Gay (corneal abrasion) sat out Tuesday and is day-to-day.
3. Cousins had 32 points and 12 rebounds on Jan. 13, but New Orleans pulled out a 109-97 win in Sacramento.