Mavericks rest four starters, still beat Pelicans

By foxsports
Published

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Raymond Felton scored 22 points in a game Dallas chose to rest four starters, and the Mavericks defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 100-91 on Wednesday night.

Dallas coach Rick Carlisle sat out Dirk Nowitzki, Deron Williams, Zaza Pachulia and Wesley Matthews after they each played 40-plus minutes in a double-overtime victory over Sacramento on Tuesday night.

Chandler Parsons, the only usual starter in uniform, scored 19 of his 21 in the first half. He needed help in the second half and got it. Dwight Powell had 13 points and 10 rebounds, J.J. Barea scored 11 and Devin Harris had 10 points.

Anthony Davis scored 26 -- but only eight in the second half -- to go with 12 rebounds. Tyreke Evans had 16 points and Eric Gordon 14 for New Orleans.

Dallas' starting lineup consisted of Parsons, Felton, Barea, Charlie Villanueva and JaVale McGee.

New Orleans, which had not played since beating a full Mavericks team in Dallas on Saturday night, led most of the first half, although never by more than seven points.

The Pelicans led by eight on Gordon's 3-pointer with 8:28 left in the third quarter, but then Dallas' scrappy band of backups began to take over.

McGee, who had a pair of alley-oop jams in the second half, ignited an 18-5 run with a put-back dunk. The spurt was capped by Justin Anderson's 3 and Felton's layup, which made it 71-66.

In the opening minutes of the fourth quarter, Barea added a pair of 3s and Felton another from distance as Dallas built a lead as large as 14.

New Orleans made a last-gasp effort to come back, closing to 89-83 on Jrue Holiday's pull-up jumper with 1:33 to go, but Felton responded with a 22-foot jumper and later added a 3 to all but seal it.

TIP-INS

Mavericks: Villanueva was making his second start this season and only his third start in five seasons. ... McGee made his first start since the 2013-14 season, finishing with eight points, six rebounds and four blocked shots.

Pelicans: Holiday finished with 11 points and Ryan Anderson 10 on 2-of-12 shooting from the field. ... New Orleans was 7 of 30 from 3-point range, with Anderson going 0 for 6. ... By losing, New Orleans missed an opportunity to win three straight against Dallas and win its first season series against the Mavs since the 2008-09 season.

UP NEXT

Mavericks: Visit Milwaukee on Friday night.

Pelicans: Host Indiana on Friday night