Pelicans 105, Nets 103
NEW ORLEANS -- Guard Jrue Holiday made a 3-pointer from the left wing with 9.3 seconds left and then drained a game-winning, fallaway 15-foot jumper with 1.3 seconds remaining to lift the New Orleans Pelicans to a 105-103 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday night at the Smoothie King Center.
The score was tied at 100 when Holiday made his 3-pointer over the outstretched arms of forward Thomas Robinson, but the Nets responded with a great inbounds feed from Donald Sloan to forward Joe Johnson, who nailed a 3-pointer from two step behind the key to tie the score at 103 with 6.9 seconds left.
The Pelicans called timeout and set up a play for Holiday, who dribbled to his right and fired up a fadeaway jumper that fell in with 1.3 seconds left, giving New Orleans a 105-103 lead.
Johnson's desperation heave from midcourt failed to fall.
In winning for the seventh time in nine games, the Pelicans (18-28) held the Nets to 15 third-quarter points and led 89-83 with 8:27 left.
Holiday led the Pelicans with 26 points, forward Ryan Anderson had 24 and forward Anthony Davis, scoreless in the first half, finished with 20 points and 16 rebounds.
The Nets (12-36) were paced by center Brook Lopez, who scored a game-high 33 points.
Davis was 0 of 10 from the floor before he made his first basket of the game, a short jumper, one minute into the third quarter. He went on to hit six of his first seven shots of the quarter, and his 12 points keyed the Pelicans' 27-15 quarter to take a 71-66 lead.
The Nets struggled to get any offense in the third, making just 6 of 22 (27 percent) from the field.
The Pelicans led 73-66 when Holiday hit a layup 20 seconds into the fourth quarter, but the Nets started pounding the ball inside to Lopez, who scored nine of the Nets' next 11 points to pull Brooklyn within 80-79.
Davis hit a one-hand dunk off a no-look feed from Holiday and Anderson followed with a rebound basket and a 3-pointer just to the left of the key to extend the Pelicans' lead to 87-81 with 7:01 left.
Returning from a concussion on Monday night, Davis missed all nine shots he took from the floor in the first half and the Pelicans trailed 51-44 at intermission. Davis had plenty of good looks at the basket but simply missed.
Guard Wayne Ellington hit his first four 3-pointers for the Nets, and at the time he had outscored the entire Pelicans team 12-11. Ellington led the Nets with 14 first-half points and Lopez added 13 points and seven rebounds.
Anderson kept New Orleans within striking distance, scoring 13 first-half points, but the Pelicans' starting five struggled from the floor, combining for just 20 points on 9-of-30 shooting from the floor.
NOTES: Pelicans F Anthony Davis returned to the lineup after being held out of New Orleans' 114-105 victory over Sacramento on Thursday night because of the NBA's concussion protocol. Davis took an inadvertent blow to the head last week from teammate Tyreke Evans while leaping for a rebound in a one-point loss to Houston. "He's what we're all about," coach Alvin Gentry said. "He can spread the floor, we can post him up, he can get out and run, he's a rim protector. Just having him back in the lineup means a lot." ... Nets coach Tony Brown was still upset about his bench's woeful performance in a 91-79 loss on Friday night in Dallas. Andrea Bargnani scored the only bench basket, and the rest of the reserves were 0 of 13 from the field. "I feel like last night I had to say something to them to let them know that I'm looking for something," Brown said. "Don't get comfortable if you think you're going to consistently get your minutes. That's not going to happen. We're going to make some changes or go somewhere else." ... New Orleans G Tyreke Evans missed the game with right knee tendinitis.