NEW YORK (AP) - Anthony Davis’ fullcourt heave after the third quarter was too late to give him points, though it gave him that unstoppable feeling great players get.
“I kind of saw it, but I mean you never really make those,” Davis said of the shot he launched from just inside the opposite baseline . “So when it in I just kind of felt like tonight was definitely my night.”
And thanks to his monster effort, it became the Pelicans’, too.
Davis scored a season-high 48 points and grabbed 17 rebounds, leading New Orleans back from 19 points down late in the third quarter to a 123-118 overtime victory over the New York Knicks on Sunday.
Jrue Holiday added 31 points, and DeMarcus Cousins had 15 points, 16 rebounds, seven steals and five assists and for the Pelicans. They were down 16 after one, even further back late in the third and still down nine with 4 1/2 minutes left in regulation.
But they kept coming and Holiday had three baskets and a couple free throws in OT to help them finish it off.
“I thought we did a great job in the overtime,” Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry said. “AD was just huge for us, and when you get into those zones like that he’s really good.”
Kristaps Porzingis and Tim Hardaway Jr. each scored 25 points for the Knicks, who lost their third straight and 10th in their last 12 games. Jarrett Jack had a season-high 22 points, and Enes Kanter finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
Five days after a double-overtime loss to Chicago in a game they led by 11, the Knicks coughed up another big lead in a miserable way to finish a rare January home game before they begin a seven-game, coast-to-coast trip Monday in Brooklyn that has them away for two weeks.
“I think we’ve just got to do a better job of when we’re up 12, 15 points, we’ve got to take it to another level, another notch,” Hardaway said. “We haven’t been doing that these last couple of games.”
The Knicks seemed in control late in a high-scoring third quarter, when they outscored the Pelicans 39-34. Hardaway’s jumper gave New York a 96-77 lead with 1:22 remaining in the period, but New Orleans then went on a 17-4 run to cut it 100-94 midway through the fourth.
The Pelicans then finished regulation with a 13-4 charge, tying the game on Davis’ basket with 3.5 seconds remaining. New Orleans then nearly won it, as E’Twaun Moore stole an inbounds pass and launched a 3-pointer that rimmed out at the buzzer.
Holiday put New Orleans ahead for good with 1:52 to play in OT and Davis had the next basket, making it 120-117.
The Knicks, playing the first of back-to-back afternoon starts, jumped to a 29-13 lead after one quarter.
TIP-INS
Pelicans: Davis has scored at least 35 points in each of his last three games at Madison Square Garden. … PG Jameer Nelson missed the game for personal reasons. … The Pelicans signed guard Mike James, who played for Phoenix earlier this season, to a two-way contract. He didn’t play.
Knicks: The Knicks signed former lottery pick Trey Burke, who had been playing for their G League affiliate and was second in the league with 26.6 points per game. The No. 9 selection in the 2013 draft has averaged 10.6 points and 3.6 assists in 267 career games with Utah and Washington.
BURKE’S BACK
Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek said during the summer Burke told the Knicks he was interested in playing for their G League team and learning their system, rather than signing a deal with another NBA team. Hornacek speculated that may have been because the Knicks’ point guard situation was unsettled at the time and maybe Burke saw an opportunity, but Burke explained otherwise.
“I think I wanted to just start from scratch, kind of recreate my brand, recreate and show what I can do on a night in and night out basis with consistent minutes,” Burke said. “I think going down there, a lot of people look at it as a knock, but for me, I went down there, it was more so like a growing period for me. I kind of wanted to start over.”
BIG MEN ON CAMPUS
The game featured three straight winners of the AP college basketball Player of the Year award. Davis won in 2012 for NCAA champion Kentucky, Burke won the next year when Michigan was the runner-up, and the Knicks’ Doug McDermott won in 2014 at Creighton.
UP NEXT
Pelicans: At Boston on Tuesday night.
Knicks: At Brooklyn on Monday.
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