Mavericks succumb to Anthony Davis, Pelicans for second straight loss

Since creating a buzz by upsetting the world-champion Golden State Warriors on Wednesday, no one has heard a peep from the Dallas Mavericks.

As they were in losing Friday night in Miami, the Mavs were quiet again Saturday night as Anthony Davis and the New Orleans Pelicans walked out of American Airlines Center with a 105-98 victory over Dallas.

It’s the first time the Mavs (19-15) have lost more than one game in a row since dropping home games to Atlanta and Washington on Dec. 9 and 12.

But this loss stung a bit deeper because the Pelicans have the fourth-worst record in the NBA. And this is the second time New Orleans has beaten the Mavs this season — they beat Dallas 120-105 on Nov. 10.

Just as they did in losing to Miami, the Mavs didn’t have enough energy and enough fight to win a game of this caliber. That was evident by the Pelicans spanking the Mavs on the backboards by a 53-33 margin, and by the Mavs grabbing just three offensive rebounds.

“This is a six-month, all-out fight in this league,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “ Tonight I thought early the ball not going in on some good looks distracted us, took us out of the fight mode slightly.

“Again, it wasn’t that we weren’t trying, it wasn’t that we weren’t playing hard. I thought they came at us a little hard.”

And the harder the Pelicans (11-22) came at Dallas, the less resistance the Mavs put up.

Still, despite falling behind 78-66 early in the fourth quarter, the Mavs scrambled all the way back and tied it at 82-all on a 3-pointer by Wesley Matthews with 6:12 to go.

But Jrue Holiday blew past J.J. Barea for a layup to seal the game and give the Pelicans a 103-98 lead with 10.9 seconds left.

Matthews, who scored 18 points, then missed a 3-pointer, and the heads started hanging on the Mavs’ side of the court.

Late in the game, replays showed Ryan Anderson received a couple of gracious calls, which led to him making four free throws and supplying New Orleans with a 101-96 lead with 1:10 remaining.

However, Carlisle wasn’t about to travel down an alley that would earn him a call from NBA headquarters.

“He got a couple of calls,” Carlisle said. “I haven’t looked at the replays. But I’m not going to give away 35 grand right now, if it’s all the same to you.”

The Mavs, who lost by 24 points Friday night in Miami, lost point guard Deron Williams to tightness in his left hamstring in the third quarter. It’s the same hamstring Williams strained, forcing him to miss four games before he returned to play against Miami.

“His hamstring got tight, so he was out as of the third quarter,” Carlisle said. “I’d say it’s an issue right now. My hope is that it’s not serious, maybe it’s a blip, maybe we can work through it. But I don’t know that.”

New Orleans led 26-25 after the first quarter, 48-47 at the half and 74-66 after three quarters. Davis pounded the Mavs for 31 points and 14 rebounds, and Holiday scored 20 points.

Dirk Nowitzki led the Mavs with 24 points, but he was only 8-of-21 from the field. Chandler Parsons, meanwhile, took just six shots and made two of them while finishing with six points and one rebound in 34 minutes.

“They’ve had a rough go,” Carlisle said of the Pelicans. “They’ve been kicked around a lot and they’re playing with some anger and it showed, and you’ve got to give them credit.”

And on analyzing his own team, Carlisle said: “We’ve had a couple of bad nights.”

Matthews said “it’s annoying’’ the way the Mavs have played the past two games.

“We didn’t play well in Miami, we didn’t play well in too many stretches here [Saturday],” Matthews said. “To be where we want to be and to be who we know we can be, we have to pick it up.”

This story was originally published January 2, 2016 at 11:21 PM with the headline "Mavericks succumb to Anthony Davis, Pelicans for second straight loss."