Cousins, Davis power Pelicans past Trail Blazers
NEW ORLEANS -- DeMarcus Cousins scored 22 points and Anthony Davis added 15 points and 15 rebounds to lead the New Orleans Pelicans to a 100-77 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday night at the Smoothie King Center.
The victory for the Pelicans (27-40), their second straight, was only the third win in nine games with Cousins and Davis playing in tandem since Cousins was acquired from Sacramento during the All-Star break.
Cousins, who has been struggling trying to find his way in the Pelicans' offense, added nine rebounds, three assists and three steals. One of his feeds was a behind-the-back bounce pass to Dante Cunningham for an uncontested dunk that put New Orleans up 83-57 with 9:39 left.
The Blazers (29-37) were paced by point guard Damian Lillard, who scored 29 points. Portland had won five of its last six games, but shot 30.3 percent and finished far below their 108.6 points per game average.
The previous offensive low for Portland this season was a 111-80 loss to the L.A. Clippers on Nov. 9.
The Pelicans led 50-36 at halftime and broke the game open with a 27-18 third quarter. They led by 20 in the third and took a 77-54 lead at the end of the period on a deep 3-pointer by Jordan Crawford.
Davis played the second half of the game with a gimpy left ankle. He twisted it late in the second quarter and left the game with six points and had seven rebounds in 13 minutes. X-rays were negative, and Davis returned for the second half.
The Pelicans led 23-16 after one on the strength of a strong defensive effort that held the Blazers to 20 percent shooting.
New Orleans extended its lead to 50-36 at halftime. Cousins scored 14 points in the first half, with most coming on strong inside moves. It could have been even better, but Cousins missed 6 of 8 foul shots. He also had five rebounds and three steals.
The 36 points were the fewest allowed by the Pelicans in the first half this season.
NOTES: New Orleans coach Alvin Gentry said he hasn't been surprised by G Jordan Crawford, who had a pair of 19-point performances in his first three games while playing on a 10-day contract. "You're talking about a guy that had three triple-doubles in the league, so that's pretty impressive on its own," Gentry said. "I think he had a reputation of being a scorer, but to me, he's a good basketball player. He's a good passer. Defensively, I think he's worked extremely hard, and obviously he's come up with some pretty big shots for us." ...SG Wayne Selden Jr. got his first start of the season for the Pelicans, starting in place of Hollis Thompson. ... Portland coach Terry Stotts said he believes the Pelicans will figure out how to best use the Anthony Davis-DeMarcus Cousins tandem. "I think it's difficult to integrate any major-minute player into a team that's already played 50 games," Stotts said. "So, there's an adjustment period especially when, obviously, Cousins and (Anthony) Davis are similar-type players as far as big men who play inside and outside."