Ellis pours in 26 as Mavericks beat Pelicans

What a wild and crazy time the last two days must have been for Monta Ellis.

Hampered by a sore right elbow, Ellis scored a season-low two points on 1-of-11 shooting during Tuesday’s loss to the Memphis Grizzlies. However, less than 24 hours and a lot of medical treatment later, the 10-year veteran was a shining star while pacing the Dallas Mavericks to a 112-107 triumph over the New Orleans Pelicans.

With a Wednesday night American Airlines Center sellout crowd of 19,988 roaring its approval, Ellis got hot late and scored in a team-high 26 points and also handed out five assists as the Mavericks improved to 17-7 on the season. As the Pelicans (10-11) were poised for an upset, Ellis shook off any notion that the elbow on his (right) shooting arm would be a factor.

Undaunted by the Pelicans’ tight defense, Ellis scored 13 of the Mavericks’ final 15 points. Starting at the 4:27 mark of the fourth quarter until 13 seconds remained in the game when he popped in a pair of free throws for a 110-107 lead, Ellis scored 13 consecutive Mavericks points.

“Well, Coach put the ball in my hands and my teammates have confidence in me to make plays around this time,” said Ellis, who was 11-of-19 from the floor in 38 minutes. “I was looking to make plays and tonight I had it going in the fourth quarter.”

On a night when Rick Carlisle coached his 500th game for the Mavericks — he’s 305-195 — Ellis showed his competitive spirit in getting off the mat in a game that was criticalfollowing Tuesday’s loss in division-leading Memphis.

“He’s an ultra competitor,” Carlisle said. “He wants the ball when the heat’s on, and he’s unafraid.

“After [Tuesday] night everybody was asking questions about his elbow and this, that and the other. The majority of guys in this league would have sat this one out after going one for whatever [Tuesday] night, but he wants to play.”

Besides Ellis, Dirk Nowitzki, Chandler Parsons and Devin Harris each contributed 20 points apiece. It’s the second time this season the Mavericks have had four players score at least 20 points in a game — the same four players accomplished the same feat Dec. 2 at Chicago.

“That was a game we definitely needed after a tough loss [Tuesday] night,” said Parsons, who was 8-of-13 from the field. “We wanted to come in here tonight and protect our home court against a hungry team that’s playing well this year, so it was good to get out of here with a win and finally get some rest [today].”

Even with starting point guard Jameer Nelson (right shoulder injury) being a late scratch, the Mavericks jumped out to a 25-15 lead after the first period and pushed it to 35-23 early in the second quarter. But the Pelicans pecked away and led 51-47 at the half and 54-47 early in the second half.

However, the Mavericks regrouped. Then they relied on Ellis, who buried jumper after jumper.

“He wanted to play,” Carlisle said, “and he wanted to compete and he knew how important this game was.”

Carlisle said Parsons got hit in his back against the Grizzlies and there was some question as to whether he was even going to play in the second half against the Pelicans when he was spotted clutching his back. But Parsons got his back stretched at halftime and wound up making 3-of-6 shots from 3-point range.

“We’ve got a lot of guys sucking it up right now and playing through pain and being nicked up,” Carlisle said. “This is very difficult coming from a mauling, a physical mauling in Memphis [Tuesday] night, to another meat grinder tonight.”

A meat grinder which the Mavericks survived behind the late-game heroics of Ellis.

This story was originally published December 10, 2014 at 11:29 PM with the headline "Ellis pours in 26 as Mavericks beat Pelicans."