Following the collision, Davis went down and New Orleans’ defense collapsed, leading to an easy basket for Rockets forward Josh Smith. The Kings starting shooting guard dropped in a season-high 26 points on 9-of-17 shooting while playing aggressive on ends of the floor. Evans is sidelined by right knee tendinitis.
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Doing all of that is easier said than done, though, and the Pelicans will need to play a complete game of basketball to get the victory against the scrappy Sacramento Kings.
The Kings, meanwhile, will be without coach George Karl, who has a stomach illness. The Pelicans moved the ball and made at least 10 3-pointers for the sixth time in eight games. Sacramento walked into the building expecting to the Pelicans to roll over and got embarrassed.
The Pelicans led by 10 at halftime and by 13 early in the third quarter, but the Kings chipped away and cut the lead to 80-75 on a Rajon Rondo free throw with 3:33 to play in the third.
He scored 18 points in the first quarter on 8 of 12 shooting.
Cousins, who had nine points in the second quarter, helped Sacramento briefly whittle its deficit to single digits before Anderson hit a step-back jumper to give him 30 points in the first half and push the Pelicans’ lead back to 11. The Kings fell to 8-14 on the road, where they have lost two straight.
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Pelicans forward Anthony Davis is named a reserve for the Western Conference NBA All-Star team, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution and multiple online reports. As one of the four teams ahead of the Pelicans in the race for the last playoff spot, the Kings have won four more games than the Pelicans this season.
