NEW ORLEANS -- For three quarters, it looked like the DeMarcus Cousins show, a trip down memory lane as the New Orleans Pelicans center continued to torch the Sacramento Kings, the team that traded him to New Orleans last February, by unleashing his full offensive arsenal.

And then, suddenly, the curtain came crashing down on the Cousins show, and ageless veteran Zach Randolph and second-yard guard Buddy Hield, a former Pelican, flipped the script.

Randolph, 36, scored 35 points and made a career-high five 3-pointers, including back-to-back threes at the beginning of overtime, and Hield keyed an eight-point explosion in the final two minutes of regulation to lift the Kings to a 116-109 victory over the Pelicans on Friday night at the Smoothie King Center.

All Randolph could talk about was an impossible 3-pointer he made from the right corner to save a botched offensive possession in overtime and put the Kings up for good, 108-105.

"That was an 'and-one' but they didn't call it," Randolph said, laughing. "I just seen the clock going down and I just tried to get my feet set. Jameer (Nelson) is kind of short, so I got a chance to shoot over him."

Kings coach Dave Joerger said he was amazed looking at Randolph's shot from almost 94 feet away.

"No, I knew that one was in," Joerger said, laughing. "He lives for big moments and for big shots. We might not have a great record (8-17), but a game like this is competition, and it is DeMarcus and Anthony Davis and Zach. We've been going against each other for six, seven years, and Zach's kind of the elder statesman of that group, and he's saying, 'Maybe I got a little left here.'"

And then Jaeger added with a smile, "That was a tough shot, though. When I looked down and I saw it, I'm like, 'Man, is he going to be able to get it around the backboard and rattle it in?' It was fun."

The Kings trailed 100-91 with 3:32 left in regulation, but they ran off eight consecutive points to close within 100-99 with 1:07 left. Hield made a 3-pointer and a layup in that stretch.

A dunk by Cousins with 49.5 seconds left put New Orleans up 102-99, but Hield, who scored 18 points, sent the game into overtime with a 3-pointer from the right wing with 36.3 seconds remaining.

"It feels good to come here and get a win," said Hield, who played for the Pelicans for a half-season before being traded in the Cousins deal. "We just found a way to win. I made shots ... but we all made plays."

The level of frustration boiled over for New Orleans coach Alvin Gentry, who spoke for less than a minute before short-circuiting his post-game press conference.

"They outplayed us in every phase of the game," Gentry said. "They played better and deserved to win. You either want to be good or you don't ... and you do what we did tonight. We got control, but then we screwed around. They wanted to win more."

Cousins' output told part of the story. After three quarters, with the Pelicans leading 82-77, Cousins had 33 points on 12-of-18 shooting. In the fourth quarter and overtime -- when the Kings outscored New Orleans 39-27, Cousins was 2-of-12 from the floor and 0-of-5 from 3-point range. He finished with 38 points and 11 rebounds, and Davis added 18 points.

Cousins became only the fourth player in NBA history to score at least 30 points in his first three games against his former team, joining Kevin Durant, Allen Iverson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. But that rang hollow.

"I don't think we played with a sense of urgency the entire night," Cousins said. "We just kind of coasted through this game. We gave this team life. We had plenty of opportunities to put the game away. We just didn't put the foot on the pedal full-throttle."

NOTES: The Pelicans gave PG Rajon Rondo the night off for rest. In Rondo's 11 games as a starter, SG Jrue Holiday averaged 20 points per game. ... Pelicans PF Anthony Davis returned after missing three games with a strained left adductor (groin). The Pelicans were 2-1 without Davis, with C DeMarcus Cousins taking over the scoring spotlight. "Both of those guys have done that; they're great players and they're used to carrying their teams," New Orleans coach Alvin Gentry said. "DeMarcus has been really good. The rebounding part has been great. The ways he's facilitated and gotten other guys involved in the game is also very important." ... Sacramento coach Dave Joerger said he tries to use a 10- or 11-man rotation to better develop his young players. "I came into the season, and whether I declared it or not, in our situation (it's best) to try develop a lot of people," Joerger said. "I'm committed to playing a lot of guys."