Pelicans at Spurs
The New Orleans Pelicans watched the Houston Rockets fire off a record 61 3-pointers and make a record 24 in a loss on Friday, but the biggest problem was star forward Anthony Davis sitting on the bench with a leg contusion. Davis will try to take the court when the Pelicans face another tough road test at the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday.
Davis, who enters the weekend second in the NBA in scoring (30.2 points) and leading in blocks (2.81), managed 19 points in 23 minutes on Friday before taking a seat. "He just got kicked, and the game wasn’t in a position where I thought that it was worth the risk to put him back out there," New Orleans coach Alvin Gentry told reporters of Davis. "And we just weren’t going to do it. He could have gone back out there but we weren’t going to put him back out there. After he got kicked in the leg he was limping out there and there was no reason to put him in the game." The Pelicans need Davis as close to 100 percent as possible against the Spurs, who pushed their latest winning streak to three straight with a 107-92 triumph at Phoenix on Thursday. San Antonio handed out 33 assists in a win over the Celtics on Wednesday and continued sharing the ball on Thursday, with no player attempting more than 12 field goals.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FSN New Orleans, FSN Southwest (San Antonio)
ABOUT THE PELICANS (9-19): New Orleans held the Indiana Pacers to 3-of-21 from 3-point range in a 102-95 win on Thursday but could not guard the perimeter against the Rockets. "We definitely could’ve put more effort into trying to run them off the 3-point line and make them get into the lane, but they made some tough shots and just maintained that throughout the game," forward Terrence Jones told reporters. Jones is one of the standout players on the team of late and is averaging 10.8 points on 50 percent shooting and 7.3 rebounds in December.
ABOUT THE SPURS (21-5): Star small forward Kawhi Leonard had a string of eight straight games scoring at least 20 points come to an end at Phoenix, when he managed 18 points on 6-of-12 shooting, 10 rebounds and four assists in 27 minutes. Leonard is averaging 24.7 points on 52.9 percent shooting in December and only shot under 50 percent from the floor once in seven games this month - 9-of-22 in a 97-96 win at Milwaukee on Dec. 5. Veteran center Pau Gasol is picking up his level of play this month as well, averaging 15.4 points and nine rebounds.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Spurs C Dewayne Dedmon is 19-of-21 from the field in the last six games.
2. Pelicans SF Solomon Hill (personal) sat out Friday and is questionable.
3. San Antonio took the last four in the series, including a 98-79 home win on Oct. 29.