(SportsNetwork.com) – The Dallas Mavericks go for their first winning streak
of the season when they invade the Big Easy Saturday night for a showdown with
the New Orleans Pelicans.
Dallas kicked off the season with Tuesday’s 101-100 loss to the defending
champion San Antonio Spurs, as Tony Parker finished with 23 points, including
the go-ahead 3-pointer with just over a minute left. Monta Ellis and Dirk
Nowitzki scored 26 and 18 points, respectively, in that one for Dallas.
The Mavericks got back to work Thursday in a 120-102 home-opening victory over
the Utah Jazz and both Nowitzki and Chandler Parsons scored 21 points. Al-
Farouq Aminu ended with 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Ellis and Brandan
Wright scored 14 points apiece.
“We were moving the ball,” Parsons said. “Our spacing was unbelievable.”
One game after shooting 48.7 percent against the Spurs, the Mavs made 55.3
percent from the floor and scored 23 points off 16 Utah turnovers.
New Orleans opened its season with a 101-84 beatdown of the Orlando Magic.
Much is expected from the Pelicans this season and their star big man, Anthony
Davis.
Davis was a monster against the Magic, finishing one block shy of a triple-
double with 26 points and 17 rebounds. Omer Asik, acquired in an offseason
trade with Houston, posted 14 points, 17 boards and five swats for the
Pelicans, who had 17 blocks and a 62-56 advantage on the boards.
The Pelicans scored 27 points off 18 Orlando turnovers. Ryan Anderson scored
22 points and Tyreke Evans added 12 in the win.
“I just feel good about the win,” Pelicans coach Monty Williams said. “I’ll
have to look at the film and see the things that we did well. Obviously, we
got a lot of stuff to get better at. I like the fact that we rebounded the
ball so well tonight.”
Pelicans guard Jrue Holiday received stitches over his right eye following a
collision with Magic guard Elfrid Payton in the third quarter. Holiday should
be ready to go for Saturday.
Dallas won all four meetings with New Orleans last season and is unbeaten in
the past seven matchups between the teams. Nowitzki averaged 25.8 ppg in four
starts against the Pelicans last season.
The Mavs are unbeaten in their last four trips to the Big Easy and have a
32-11 record in the all-time series.
