Cousins, Kings keep Pelicans winless
SACRAMENTO -- DeMarcus Cousins scored 28 points, but it was two consecutive defensive plays that helped the Sacramento Kings pull away for a 102-94 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday at Golden 1 Center.
Cousins, who has led Sacramento in scoring in seven of its nine contests, blocked a shot, leading to his own layup, then slapped the ball away from New Orleans guard Langston Galloway to create a Darren Collison layup, part of an 8-0 fourth-quarter run that proved to be the difference.
Rudy Gay had 21 points, six rebounds and six assists for the Kings (4-5), as they won their second straight and ended a six-game skid against the Pelicans. Sacramento beat New Orleans for the first time since Nov. 25, 2014.
Center Anthony Davis finished with 34 points and eight rebounds for the Pelicans (0-8). He has scored at least 30 points five times already this season.
New Orleans fell for the second time in as many nights, and its season-opening skid matches the 2004-05 New Orleans Hornets' start for the worst in franchise history.
Pelicans guard E'Twaun Moore finished with 13 points despite rolling his right foot and injuring his right big toe in the first half. Guard Tim Frazier had nine assists to go with five points for the Pelicans, who never led.
New Orleans appeared to have cut Sacramento's lead to 51-48 at halftime, but referees made the teams replay the final 18.9 seconds of the second quarter after intermission because they mishandled a foul call on Cousins. The foul on Cousins should have been ruled the fifth team foul on the Pelicans and resulted in free throws, but refs ruled it otherwise before correcting themselves at halftime.
Cousins knocked down the two free throws, and New Orleans didn't score, putting Sacramento ahead 53-46 entering the final two periods.
Collison tallied nine points and four assists in 28 minutes for Sacramento off the bench in his first game back after an eight-game suspension for domestic violence. Aaron Afflalo added 15 points on 5-for-6 shooting, and Willie Cauley-Stein added nine points in 12 minutes after not getting off the bench in Sacramento's previous contest.
NOTES: Kings G Ty Lawson averaged 32 minutes a game during teammate G Darren Collison's eight-game suspension. Collison's return is expected to ease that load for Lawson, an eighth-year veteran who averaged 21 minutes a contest with Houston and Indiana last season. Lawson was scoreless in 21 minutes Tuesday. ... C Anthony Davis' next 40-point, 10-rebound contest for New Orleans will be his eighth, tying him with Golden State Warriors C Kevin Durant for the second most in the past 30 years. Shaquille O'Neal did it 16 times. ... Kings F Anthony Tolliver was back in uniform after missing three consecutive games with a knee bruise, but he didn't play. ... Davis, a teammate of Sacramento C DeMarcus Cousins and F Rudy Gay for the gold-medal winning U.S. team at the 2014 FIBA World Cup, contested an average of 14.4 shots in the Pelicans' first seven games, the second-best mark in the league.