BALTIMORE (AP) — Anthony Davis scored 14 points and Ryan Anderson had 11 as the New Orleans Pelicans beat the Washington Wizards 88-84 on Monday night in the next-to-last preseason game for both teams.
Led by 10 points from Davis, who went 5 for 5 from the field, the Pelicans went on a 24-4 run to take a 28-12 lead with 47.4 seconds left in the first quarter.
Early in the third quarter, Davis sprained his right wrist and didn’t return.
“I kept him out. He wanted to come back in the game. It’s not worth it,” New Orleans coach Monty Williams said. “I played him a ton in the first half. I just didn’t want to risk. He just fell down and twisted it.”
Davis was in no mood to discuss the injury, saying it wasn’t a concern.
“It’s all good,” Davis said.
Washington rested point guard John Wall and forward Paul Pierce. Pierce bruised his right knee on Friday against Charlotte.
The Wizards, led by Kevin Seraphin’s 14 points, rebounded from a 29-point deficit to get within 87-84 with 18 seconds to play.
When Williams was asked if he would have put Davis back in the game if this was the regular season, he laughed.
“It’s not the regular season,” he said. “If this was the regular season, I probably would have put a bunch of guys back in.”
TIP-INS:
Wizards: Wall sat out his first preseason game. Coach Randy Wittman said he wanted to rest Wall, who has tendinitis in his left knee.
“Considering everything that’s going on, there’s no need to stress with that,” Wittman said.
Wittman believes Wall will be back at practice on Tuesday. When asked if Wall’s minutes needed to be monitored, Wittman shook his head no.
Washington suited up just 11 players. Forward Kris Humphries, who had surgery on his right pinkie last month, was scheduled to have sutures removed on Monday.
Pelicans: Williams played Tyreke Evans 20 minutes. Evans, who played in just his second preseason game after missing the first five because of a right hamstring injury, had 10 points.
“Tyreke is still under restriction a little bit with his minutes, so we don’t want to push that,” Williams said.
New Orleans isn’t planning to play its starters many minutes in the team’s final preseason game on Thursday. Williams used this as an opportunity to play the players he anticipates will be in his regular-season rotation.
“We have a number of new guys who are learning our language,” Williams said. “We still have some things we want to look at the last couple of games. The last game we won’t see our starters much, if at all.”
WELCOME HOME:
The game was played at the newly named Royal Farms Arena, the latest moniker for the more than 50-year-old downtown building that was home to the Wizards’ predecessors, the Baltimore Bullets from 1963-73.
ORIOLE IN THE HOUSE:
Baltimore Orioles center fielder Adam Jones served as the Wizards’ honorary captain. Jones’ Orioles were eliminated in four games by Kansas City in last week’s American League Championship Series.
UP NEXT:
Pelicans: Host Dallas on Thursday
Wizards: Visit New York on Wednesday.
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