Davis gets double-double help from Cole as Pelicans top Mavs

DALLAS >> Anthony Davis had 31 points and 14 rebounds. Nothing new there. It was his 21st double-double of the season.

But a double-double from 6-foot-2 New Orleans guard Norris Cole? Now that doesn’t happen every day.

Cole scored 16 points with a career-high 12 rebounds Saturday night for the Pelicans in a 105-98 victory over the Mavericks that snapped a six-game losing streak in Dallas.

“AD’s a monster at rebounding. Let’s not get that mistaken,” Cole said while laughing off the suggestion that the Pelicans’ All-Star forward had a new rebounding challenger.

“Just being aggressive, being a ballhawk,” said Cole, who posted his second career double-double. “As a guard obviously you’re not going to jump over all the bigs, so you have to read it and anticipate it and get there.”

Dirk Nowitzki led the Mavericks with 24 points but was 8 of 21 from the field on the second night of a back-to-back — both losses since Dallas handed Golden State its second defeat of the season, with Stephen Curry sidelined by a leg injury.

“I don’t know,” Mavericks guard Wesley Matthews said when asked about the team’s struggle for consistency. “This is annoying, though. We didn’t play well in Miami, and we didn’t play well in too many stretches here.”

Ryan Anderson hit a tiebreaking 3-pointer in the fourth quarter and the Pelicans went on to their fourth road win this season. They won at Dallas for just the third time in 25 games in franchise history.

Jrue Holiday scored 20 points, including a big 3-pointer in the fourth. Anderson scored 16, as did Eric Gordon. All three hit a pair of 3s.

Davis scored 11 points in the fourth quarter, most on mid-range jumpers, while combining with Anderson and Holiday for 26 of New Orleans’ 31 points in the final period.

“The first thing I said to them in the locker room is I thought it was a really good team win,” New Orleans coach Alvin Gentry said. “Everybody did something at some stage of the game to keep us going.”

Anderson ended a series of three straight ties with a 3-pointer to put New Orleans ahead for good at 90-87 with 4:27 remaining.

The Mavericks got to 97-96 on a 3 by Wesley Matthews, who had 18 points. But Anderson hit four straight free throws while J.J. Barea missed consecutive shots for Dallas, which had a five-game home winning streak snapped.

Dallas was still within three in the final seconds, but Holiday hit a layup for a 103-98 lead.

DALLAS REPLAY

New Orleans gets a rare three-day break before playing the Mavericks again at home. The Pelicans have 14 games in January, half against teams currently with losing records. “It lightens up, but it doesn’t mean anything unless we come away with wins,” Gentry said. “It can’t be good, hard-nosed, tough basketball where we come away with close losses.”

WILLIAMS OUT AGAIN

The Mavericks played the last quarter without guard Deron Williams, who went out with left hamstring tightness. He was playing for the second straight game after missing four with a left hamstring strain. He also missed time in the preseason with hamstring issues.

Barea started for the sixth straight game since Williams’ original injury, with Williams coming off the bench. But Barea wasn’t as hot as he had been in three of the first four starts. He had 10 points on 3-of-10 shooting. Williams scored 11.

DUELING TECHNICALS

Dallas coach Rick Carlisle got a technical after stepping in front of official Tony Brown in the middle of a New Orleans fast break to complain about a non-call on the offensive end. Gentry then complained to Brown about the fast break getting stopped, and he got a technical. The matching penalties negated any free throws.

TIP-INS

Pelicans: Cole had four assists and four steals to go with his double-double. His other double-double was on April 15, 2013, against Cleveland, when he had 16 points and his previous career high of 11 rebounds with Miami. … Davis had his sixth 30-point, 10-rebound game of the season and the 27th of his career.

Mavericks: Chandler Parsons hit his 500th career 3-pointer late in the second quarter but was held to six shots in 34 minutes. He scored six points. … Zaza Pachulia barely missed his 19th double-double with 14 points and nine rebounds. He had a season-high four steals, one of which easily could have been recorded as a rebound.

UP NEXT

Pelicans: Host Dallas on Wednesday.

Mavericks: Host Sacramento on Tuesday.

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Previous versions of this story had incorrect totals of 14 points and 11 rebounds for Norris Cole. He had 16 points and 12 rebounds.