Pelicans rally to defeat Cavs

Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS

Jrue Holiday saw a late 12-point deficit as an opportunity to deliver a character-building message.

Fans had started filing out of the New Orleans Arena, the Pelicans were gathered at their bench for a timeout with 4:44 left, and Holiday told his young teammates: “It’s time to grow.”

New Orleans then outscored Cleveland 23-7 the rest of the way en route to 104-100 victory Friday night.

“There’s going to be plenty of times, plenty of games where we’re going to be down like that, but it was time for us to grow, grow together,” said Holiday, who had 15 points and 11 assists. “Everybody kind of responded to that and picked up their defense. Everybody took their defensive assignments to heart.”

Anthony Davis had 17 points, 13 rebounds and three blocks for New Orleans. Eric Gordon scored 19, including a 3-pointer from the corner with 31 seconds left to give New Orleans the lead for good.

Cleveland’s Kyrie Irving, who had 22 points, drove for a potential tying layup with 23 seconds left, but lost the ball as he collided with Davis.

As the Pelicans’ Tyreke Evans corralled the loose ball, Irving took off his protective face mask in disgust, certain he was fouled.

After the game, however, Irving refused to blame the loss on that play.

“We had a chance in the fourth quarter. We gave ourselves a chance,” he said. “There’s a couple things we’ve got to get better at.”

Evans and Holiday combined to make four free throws in the final 20 seconds to secure New Orleans’ third straight win.

Cleveland coach Mike Brown hoped his young team would learn from its collapse.

“It’s a tough loss, especially when you feel like you had control most of the game,” Brown said. “But it’s a growing, learning experience for a young group.”

The Cavs led 93-81 with 4:44 to go after Earl Clark’s third 3-pointer of the second half capped what appeared to be a decisive 9-2 run.

New Orleans coach Monty Williams responded with a lineup featuring his five top scorers: Gordon, Holiday, Davis, Evans and Ryan Anderson.

“That’s a tough lineup because everyone is capable of scoring,” Davis said.

What resulted was a 14-2 run that included 3s by Holiday and Anderson, as well as six points by Davis on a dunk, free throws and a tip-in of Evans’ miss on a fast break to tie it at 95 with 1:29 to go.

“All our guys, instead of separating, came together,” said Williams, who unleashed an emphatic fist pump as the horn sounded.