Anthony Davis had 31 points and 14 rebounds and the visiting Los Angeles Lakers won their fifth straight game by defeating the New Orleans Pelicans 104-99 on Saturday night.
LeBron James failed to extend his career-best streak of four consecutive triple-doubles, but he had 21 points, including consecutive clutch 3-pointers in the final two minutes. Rookie Dalton Knecht scored 27 and Austin Reaves added 10.
Brandon Ingram scored 32, Jaylen Nowell had 16 off the bench, Brandon Boston Jr. had 12 and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl 10 for the Pelicans.
With the Pelicans up 10 at intermission, Davis scored the Lakers’ first five points of the third quarter and Knecht added consecutive 3-pointers during an 11-2 run that pulled Los Angeles within 58-57.
The Pelicans rebuilt the lead to six points before Knecht and Davis scored five points each to help the Lakers take a 67-63 lead.
Ingram made a field goal, but Davis scored five points and D’Angelo Russell had a 3-pointer to help Los Angeles maintain a 75-71 lead at the end of the third quarter.
The Lakers scored the first six points of the fourth quarter to push the lead to 10 before Trey Jemison III made a layup for the Pelicans’ first points of the period at 9:40. That started a 9-0 run that trimmed the lead to one point.
New Orleans got within a point twice more before Robinson-Earl’s 3-pointer tied the score at 87. The score was tied two more times before James and Knecht made consecutive layups, but Boston and Ingram made consecutive 3-pointers to give the Pelicans a 97-95 lead.
James answered with consecutive 3-pointers to give Los Angeles a 101-97 lead with 37.6 seconds left.
New Orleans missed a chance to attempt a tying 3-pointer with 1.3 seconds left when Robinson-Earl turned it over on an inbounds pass and Knecht added two free throws.
The Pelicans used an 11-0 run to take a 20-9 lead and led 30-21 at the end of the first quarter.
Nowell scored nine points to help New Orleans twice build a 15-point lead — the second time at 53-38. James scored six points during the final 3:13 and Los Angeles pulled within 56-46 at halftime.