For a second straight night, New Orleans put itself in position to knock off a Southwest Division rival by playing well over the first 45 minutes or so of the game. For a second straight, the opposition found a way to win in crunch time. Thursday’s meeting with San Antonio was tied at 86 with under three minutes remaining, but New Orleans was blanked the rest of the game. The red-hot Spurs came up with a series of big shots, including a Patty Mills trey to make it a five-point game with 1:21 left. Already undermanned, New Orleans was without three-time All-Star forward Anthony Davis for a chunk of the second half after he sustained a lip incision from an inadvertent elbow by San Antonio legend Tim Duncan. Davis ended up playing 35 minutes; he had 17 points and 13 rebounds to move into a tie for the franchise’s all-time lead in double-doubles featuring scoring and boards.
IT WAS OVER WHEN…
San Antonio’s Kawhi Leonard swished a three-pointer to give the Spurs a 94-86 lead with 35 seconds left. Leonard previously kept the crucial possession alive by grabbing a long defensive rebound, allowing the Spurs to bleed additional precious seconds off the clock.
PELICANS PLAYER OF THE GAME
Eric Gordon turned in his second quality performance since returning from a broken finger injury Saturday vs. Minnesota, a game in which he scored a season-best 31 points. This time Gordon had 23 points on 9/19 shooting from the field, including 3/6 treys. He added five rebounds and four assists.
PELICANS UNSUNG CONTRIBUTOR
New Orleans has three true centers on its roster, but only one is healthy at the moment. With starter Omer Asik sidelined with a right ankle sprain and Alexis Ajinca out indefinitely with a broken sternum, it’s up to Kendrick Perkins to play a much bigger role. Perkins’ numbers didn’t jump off the stat sheet (2 points, 4 rebounds), but he received a few ovations from the home crowd for his effort and defensive aggressiveness.
