(The Sports Xchange) – Anthony Davis scored 10 of his game-high 30 points in a two-minute stretch of the fourth quarter and DeMarcus Cousins had his seventh career triple-double with 29 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists to power the New Orleans Pelicans to a 123-101 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday night.
The win improved the Pelicans’ record to 3-3, the first time they’ve been at .500 in the last 981 days. They were last at .500 with a 27-27 mark on Feb. 20, 2015.
The Pelicans got just three points from their bench in the first 47 minutes but won going away. Besides Davis and Cousins, Jrue Holiday added 29 points and seven assists and E’Twaun Moore tied a career-high with 24 points.
Trail Blazers 114, Suns 107
Damian Lillard scored 25 points and CJ McCollum had 23 as Portland pulled out a victory over Phoenix at Moda Center.
Jusuf Nurkic had 17 points and nine rebounds for the Trail Blazers.
Devin Booker had 34 points, six rebounds and six assists for the Sun.
Pistons 95, Clippers 87
Andre Drummond had 15 points and 17 rebounds as Detroit rallied from a 13-point third-quarter deficit to hand Los Angeles its first loss of the season.
Reggie Jackson had 15 points and seven assists, and Langston Galloway contributed 13 points off the bench for the Pistons.
Austin Rivers was 6 of 8 from 3-point range and scored 20 points to lead the Clippers, who were the last remaining unbeaten team in the NBA. Blake Griffin had 19 points and 11 rebounds and Danilo Gallinari scored 13.
Jazz 96, Lakers 81
Donovan Mitchell scored a career-high 22 points and Ricky Rubio added 21 to lead Utah over Los Angeles.
Derrick Favors added 14 points and 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season for Utah, which never trailed from start to finish and won their fifth straight regular-season game over the Lakers. Utah made 13 3-pointers to stay a step ahead for four quarters.
Brandon Ingram scored 16 points and Jordan Clarkson added 15 off the bench to lead Los Angeles. The Lakers suffered their first road loss this season after making just 31 of 81 shots from the field (38.3 percent).
76ers 112, Mavericks 110
Rising stars Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons each scored 23 points to lead Philadelphia over Dallas at American Airlines Center.
Embiid hurt Dallas with three 3-pointers, including a big one with under five minutes to go in the fourth quarter that gave the Sixers just enough breathing room to hold off a late Dallas rally. Yogi Ferrell, with a chance to tie with two free throws with 0.2 of a second to go, missed the front end. Dallas couldn’t convert his intentionally missed second free throw.
Harrison Barnes led Dallas with 25 points.
Celtics 96, Heat 90
Kyrie Irving scored 24 points to lead Boston over Miami.
Irving scored five straight points in the final two minutes as the Celtics held off a late Miami rally for their fourth win in a row and eighth straight over the Heat.
The Heat rallied from an 11-point deficit midway through the third quarter and got within 88-86 on Goran Dragic’s layup with 1:53 remaining in the fourth quarter. Irving responded with a short jumper and a 3-pointer that gave the Celtics 93-86 lead with 57 seconds left. Dragic finished with 22 points.
Thunder 101, Bulls 69
Carmelo Anthony scored 21 points, Paul George added 20 and Russell Westbrook posted a triple-double as Oklahoma City routed Chicago.
The Thunder never trailed and relied on a balanced scoring attack while limiting the Bulls to 28.2 percent shooting from the field. Westbrook posted his third triple-double of the season and finished with 12 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists.
Rookie Lauri Markkanen led the Bulls with 15 points and Justin Holiday finished with 11 points. Robin Lopez added 10 for Chicago.
Grizzlies 103, Rockets 89
Chandler Parsons scored 24 points as Memphis defeated Houston at FedExForum.
Parsons went 9 of 11 from the floor against Houston and was 6 of 8 from 3-point range.
Ryan Anderson led Houston with 22 points, seven rebounds and two blocks and James Harden had 20 points, eight assists, four rebounds and two steals for the Rockets.