No Anthony Davis, no problem for the New Orleans Pelicans, as the visitors routed the Memphis Grizzlies 105-85 on Monday in the first game without their injured All Star.
Davis sprained his left index finger in a loss at Portland on Friday night and is expected to miss a week or two.
Jahlil Okafor earned the start in place of Davis and made the most of it, scoring 20 points on 9-of-11 shooting and pulling down 10 rebounds. Jrue Holiday and Nikola Mirotic each scored 21 for New Orleans. Mirotic made five 3-pointers off the bench, and Holiday added 11 rebounds.
New Orleans' Julius Randle also scored 20 and had a team-high 12 rebounds.
Memphis' Marc Gasol led all scorers with 22 after missing the team's previous game with a sore back. Mike Conley added 20 in the loss.
It was tale of two halves behind the 3-point arc for the Pelicans, who hit just one 3-pointer in the first half on 12 attempts. However, they nailed eight 3-pointers in 14 attempts in the second to pull away from the Grizzlies, who lost their sixth consecutive game and 12th in the past 13.
The Pelicans, just 7-19 on the road this year, won the final game of their five-game trip to finish the trek 2-3.
The game was tied 63-63 with 6:31 remaining in the third quarter, but the Pelicans outscored Memphis 42-22 the rest of the way.
The 3-point shots started to fall for the Pelicans in the third, as they used a 17-3 run to lead 82-68 heading into the final stanza. New Orleans went 4-for-6 from beyond the period, with Mirotic connecting on three treys in the frame.
The Pelicans took a 54-50 lead into the half on the strength of a 9-2 run to end the second quarter.
Okafor led the team at the break with 13 points on 6-of-7 shooting, plus seven boards. Holiday had 12 points and Randle 10.
Conley paced the Grizzlies with 15 first-half points, and Gasol had 13 but also three fouls.
The Grizzlies led 28-21 after the first quarter on a Conley 3-pointer at the buzzer. They were on top by as much as nine.
--Field Level Media
New Orleans | Memphis | |
Jrue Holiday 21 | Scoring | Marc Gasol 22 |
Jrue Holiday 6 | Assists | Mike Conley 8 |
Julius Randle 12 | Rebounds | Marc Gasol 8 |
Julius Randle 8 | Free Throws Made | Mike Conley 3 |
Jrue Holiday 2 | Steals | Mike Conley 4 |
Darius Miller 2 | Blocks | Jaren Jackson Jr. 1 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
New Orleans | 105 | 52.7 | 9-26 | 18-26 | 19 | 50 | 7 | 8 | 19 |
Memphis | 85 | 37.5 | 9-35 | 10-17 | 21 | 35 | 1 | 10 | 12 |