Jrue Holiday helps Pelicans rally past Nets, stay undefeated

Jrue Holiday scored five of his game-high 26 points in the final 22 seconds as the host New Orleans Pelicans rallied to stay undefeated with a 117-115 victory against the Brooklyn Nets on Friday night.

Holiday, who was coming off a 2-for-15 shooting performance, made two free throws to pull the Pelicans within 115-114 with 21.9 seconds left. With the shot clock turned off, New Orleans didn't foul, and D'Angelo Russell threw the ball out of bounds with 7.5 seconds remaining.

Then, Holiday hit a jumper to give the Pelicans a one-point lead with three seconds left. During a Brooklyn timeout, the Nets' Ed Davis was called for a technical for shoving the Pelicans' Solomon Hill as Hill walked near the Nets' huddle.

Holiday extended the lead to two by making the technical free throw, and Anthony Davis stole the in-bounds pass to seal the victory.

Russell led Brooklyn with 24 points, Caris LeVert scored 21, Shabazz Napier had 16 and Spencer Dinwiddie and Allen Crabbe 11 each.

Davis had 18 points, 14 rebounds, five blocks and four steals, while Elfrid Payton scored 17, E'Twaun Moore had 15, Julius Randle 14 and Nikola Mirotic 10.

The Nets led by nine after a hot-shooting first half, but the Pelicans had the hot hands to start the third quarter. Mirotic and Payton scored six points each during a 19-10 run that pulled New Orleans even at 76.

The score was tied again at 88 before Dinwiddie beat the buzzer with a 3-pointer that gave Brooklyn a 91-88 lead after three quarters.

The Pelicans twice pulled within a point before Moore finally evened the score at 101 on a 3-pointer midway through the fourth quarter.

But Russell's 3-pointer broke the tie, and back-to-back baskets by LeVert helped push the lead to 115-108 with two minutes remaining.

A basket by Holiday and two free throws by Mirotic cut the lead to three with 48 seconds left.

After a Nets miss, Holiday took over.

Davis was called for two early fouls and scored just four points in the first quarter, but Holiday picked up the slack. He had 13 points as New Orleans took a 32-30 lead after the first quarter.

Dinwiddie made two 3-pointers, and Napier made one as the Nets opened a 47-38 lead midway through the second quarter.

The lead grew to as many as 13 points before consecutive baskets by Davis and Moore cut it to 66-57 at halftime.

Brooklyn made 10 of 19 3-pointers in the half. —Field Level Media/Reuters