San Antonio forward LaMarcus Aldridge's double-digit scoring streak of 59 games came to an end when he scored just eight points and sustained a right ankle sprain that kept him out of the second half.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich quickly joined his star forward in the locker room when he was ejected from the game for arguing with the officials just 47 seconds into the third quarter.
Back-to-back layups by Holiday and a dunk by Davis gave the Pelicans their first lead of the game, 114-113, with 1:53 to play.
A 3-pointer by Dejounte Murray swung the advantage back to San Antonio but was quickly answered by a deep ball by E'Twaun Moore, granting the Pelicans a 117-116 lead heading to the final minute.
The Spurs turned over the ball on their ensuing possession, their third turnover in the final two minutes, but Holiday missed two free throws after being fouled. That was when Davis made the biggest play of the game.
Sneaking inside the San Antonio defense for the offensive rebound after the second miss, Davis was fouled, and he made both free throws to push New Orleans' lead to three points.
Patty Mills and Rudy Gay missed 3-pointers on San Antonio's last-gasp possession, and Davis finished off the Spurs with two more free throws with 3.4 seconds to play.
Moore scored 17 points for New Orleans while Rajon Rondo and Nikola Mirotic hit for 13 apiece. Darius Miller added 11 points and Ian Clark had 10 for the Pelicans, who won for the seventh straight game, their longest winning streak since 2011. Rondo had 12 assists.
Gay led the Spurs with 19 points, while Murray added 18, Manu Ginobili scored 17 points, Joffrey Lauvergne tallied 14, and Mills and Tony Parker contributed 11 and 10 points, respectively, for San Antonio.
San Antonio led by as many as 13 points in the first half before settling for a 60-51 advantage at halftime. Ginobili led the Spurs with 13 points off the bench while Murray poured in 11 in the first half.
Holiday paced New Orleans with 13 points with Davis hitting for 10 and clawing his way to eight rebounds.
Next up for San Antonio is a home game against the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday while the Pelicans head to Dallas for a road contest against the Mavericks on Sunday.
--Field Level Media
New Orleans | San Antonio | |
Anthony Davis 26 | Scoring | Rudy Gay 19 |
Rajon Rondo 12 | Assists | Dejounte Murray 5 |
Anthony Davis 15 | Rebounds | Dejounte Murray 9 |
Anthony Davis 8 | Free Throws Made | Rudy Gay 3 |
Anthony Davis 2 | Steals | Danny Green 2 |
Cheick Diallo 2 | Blocks | Rudy Gay 3 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
New Orleans | 121 | 50.5 | 9-26 | 12-15 | 26 | 43 | 3 | 7 | 12 |
San Antonio | 116 | 48.5 | 9-26 | 11-14 | 23 | 47 | 9 | 7 | 11 |