DeMarcus Cousins led the way with 22 points and nine rebounds as Pelicans crushed the Trail Blazers 100-77 at the Smoothie King Center on Tuesday night.
Anthony Davis contributed a double-double scoring 15 and pulling down 15 boards. The Pelican won their second straight, improving to 4-and-6 since trading for Cousins.
Jordan Crawford scored 13 off the bench in the winning effort. Damian Lillard paced Portland with 29 points in defeat. The Blazers shot just 30.3-percent from the field as they fell to 29-and-37.
“I thought we were really good, defensively," Coach Alvin Gentry said. "The two guards make their team go, and they shot 12-for-30. You hold those guys to 12-for-30 and you don’t turn the ball over, you’re going to be in pretty good shape.”
"I thought DeMarcus and A.D. did a good job of getting the ball and taking advantage when they tried to go small and making them pay. So for us, it’s a good win against a team that’s been scoring 120 a game in the last five games, so that’s the way we have to try to play and that’s the way we have to continue to try to play," the coach added.
Anthony Davis was pleased with the victory.
“I think this was the lowest we ever held somebody this season. We just tried to lock in and contain Damian and CJ, they’re their two “go-to” players, and they try to get everybody involved. Even though Damian kind of made some shots, we wanted to make sure that everybody else didn’t affect the game, and we did that tonight," Davis said.