Pelicans (10-20), Rockets (16-16) – On a night when both Southwest Division teams had difficulty coming up with stops on defense with any regularity, it was a defensive play that finally settled Saturday’s game. Trailing by two points with 1.7 seconds left, Houston had difficulty inbounding from the right sideline, eventually watching New Orleans’ Tyreke Evans pick off a Trevor Ariza pass. Ariza frantically searched for somewhere to throw the ball, but couldn’t find an open Rocket. The Evans swipe punctuated a fourth-quarter comeback for the Pelicans, who trailed by nine with 7:59 remaining. New Orleans improved to 7-6 in the Smoothie King Center, owning a winning record at home for the first time this season. The Pelicans have won seven of their last 10 games in Louisiana. IT WAS OVER WHEN… Evans stole Ariza’s pass and dribbled toward the other way, tossing the ball high in the air as the buzzer sounded and a sellout crowd of 18,248 fans rejoiced in the come-from-behind division win. Evans actually struggled for much of the night offensively (3/13 on field goals), but did well in other areas, including his season-high 13 assists.
