Ellis’ 27 points off the bench helps the Kings hold on to beat Williamson and the Pelicans 119-111
Ellis’ 27 points off the bench helps the Kings hold on to beat Williamson and the Pelicans 119-111
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Keon Ellis hit seven 3-pointers during a 27-point performance, Zach LaVine scored 20 of his 23 points in the second half, and the Sacramento Kings beat the New Orleans Pelicans 119-111 on Wednesday night.
DeMar DeRozan scored 24 points and Malik Monk added 17 for the Kings, who broke open a close game in the last five minutes with an 11-2 run that began with LaVine’s 3 and ended with DeRozan’s 16-foot turnaround.
Domantas Sabonis had 16 points and 15 rebounds — his 48th double-double in 51 games this season — for Sacramento, which has won three straight.
Zion Williamson scored a game-high 33 points and grabbed nine rebounds for the Pelicans, who’ve lost 10 straight for the second time this season.
Trey Murphy III scored 19 points, Jose Alvarado added 18 and CJ McCollum 14 for the Pelicans, who were competitive for much of a game that had 13 lead changes and 12 ties before fading late.
Takeaways
Kings: Sacramento won despite being outscored 70-40 in the paint. The Kings outrebounded New Orleans 48-40, shot better from outside and outscored New Orleans 21-15 from the foul line
Pelicans: Bruce Brown was the first reserve off the bench in what also was his debut for New Orleans. He scored four points in 26 minutes. Newly acquired center Kelly Olynyk did not play. Reserve center Karlo Matkovic fouled out after playing just 15 minutes.
Key moment
Soon after rookie Antonio Reeves’ corner 3 had pulled the Pelicans to 104-102 with 5:36 left, LaVine responded with his 3 from the right wing to spark the Kings’ decisive run.
Key stat
Sacramento shot 16 for 45 (35.6%) from 3-point range, while New Orleans went just 8 of 32 (25%) from deep.
Up next
The teams meet again in New Orleans on Thursday. ___
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
By BRETT MARTEL
AP Sports Writer
