Cousins leads Pelicans past his former team
NEW ORLEANS -- DeMarcus Cousins scored a game-high 37 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in his first game against his former team and Anthony Davis added 19 points and 12 boards to power the New Orleans Pelicans to a 117-89 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Friday night at the Smoothie King Center.
Cousins, acquired by the Pelicans from the Kings after the All-Star break in a blockbuster trade, was 5 of 8 from 3-point range, scored 18 fourth-quarter points and had four assists as the Pelicans (33-43) won for the eighth time in their last 11 games.
The Kings (29-47) committed 22 turnovers. They were led by former Pelicans guard Ben McLemore, acquired in the Cousins trade, who scored 15 points off the bench.
The Pelicans led by as many as 26 points midway through the third quarter. Sacramento cut the deficit to 70-57 with a 14-2 run but got no closer.
Cousins went to work early, scoring 17 points and grabbing seven rebounds to lead the Pelicans to a 58-38 halftime advantage.
Cousins made his first three attempts from long range, and when the Sacramento bigs came out to guard him on the perimeter, he dribbled inside to scoring at point-blank range against Georgios Papagiannis.
On the final play of the first quarter, Cousin pump-faked on a 3-point shot and got Papagiannis into the air and drew a shooting foul.
Davis added 13 points and seven boards for New Orleans in the first 24 minutes, and the Pelicans turned 13 first-half turnovers by Sacramento into 21 points. The Kings shot just 34.9 percent from the field in the first half, while New Orleans shot 51.1 percent, holding a 32-14 edge in the paint.
NOTES: Since the blockbuster DeMarcus Cousins trade, the Pelicans are 10-9 and the Kings are 5-14. ... The Pelicans announced they would field their own developmental team in the NBA Gatorade League, beginning in the 2018-19 season. They are soliciting bids from 11 cities along the Gulf Coast, including seven in Louisiana, two in Mississippi and one each in Alabama and Florida. "I think it's really important for all the teams in the league to have (their) own D-League team and be able to run it, basically having them run the same offense," said New Orleans coach Alvin Gentry. "When I was at Golden State that was one of the biggest advantages I think we had. We had a coach and players, in proximity to us and we could have a guy and send him down and bring him back in a day." ... Kings coach Dave Joerger said he is happy with the three guards -- Buddy Hield, Tyreke Evans and Langston Galloway -- the Kings acquired in the Cousins deal. "They work hard and we'll see what happens down the line in the next two years for their development," Joerger said.