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NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Eric Gordon made 10 of 12 shots on his way to 25 points, and the New Orleans Pelicans won their second straight game, 104-98 over the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night.
Jrue Holiday added 20 points and 12 assists, hitting a clutch 3-pointer in the final minute to give New Orleans some breathing room after the Pelicans' 19-point, fourth-quarter lead was trimmed to six with nearly five minutes remaining.
Ryan Anderson scored 18 for New Orleans, which also benefited from a season-low six turnovers. However, New Orleans lost Tyreke Evans for the second half after aggravated a left ankle sprain that first occurred late last week.
Jon Leuer scored 19 and Mike Conley 18 for Memphis, which has lost two straight. Zach Randolph added 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Grizzlies, who were done in by a 21-3 Pelicans run that started in the last half of the third quarter.
The Grizzlies were as close as 63-62 on Kosta Koufos' 6-foot runner halfway through the third quarter, but Randolph went to the bench with his fourth foul soon after.
New Orleans then started to dominate, going on a 21-3 run that gave the Pelicans their largest lead at 84-65 early in the fourth quarter.
The surge included Gordon's layup and 27-footer with a second left in the third quarter. Gordon, who hit all three of his 3-point shots, hit from long range early in the fourth quarter to make it 87-70 with 10 minutes left.
Memphis nearly had an answer, though.
Mike Miller's free throws began a 15-3 run, which he capped with a 3 to cut it to 94-88 with 4:53 still left.
New Orleans called timeout soon after, and when the game resumed, Gordon hit a 20-foot jumper, Holiday followed with a 9-foot floater, Al-Farouq Aminu sank a pair of clutch free throws and Holiday connected from 3. That put New Orleans ahead 103-93 with 54 seconds left, and Memphis could not recover.
Memphis shot 75 percent during the first 10 minutes of the game, allowing them to open an early 32-24 lead on Tony Allen's finger roll even as New Orleans shot better than 50 percent. The lead grew to 10 when Jerryd Bayless' driving layup made it 40-30.
The gap remained about the same until Holiday's 3 with 4:05 left in the period sparked a 10-0 run that included a 3 and layup by Anderson, the latter giving New Orleans a 49-48 lead.
Evans, who'd been playing on a sore left ankle, reinjured himself on a drive in the final seconds of the half, but was able to hobble back to the free throw line and make two foul shots to give the Pelicans a 55-54 lead heading into the locker room.
Notes: The Grizzlies are 0-6 against Southwest Division opponents. ... New Orleans begins a five-game road trip at Denver on Sunday night. ... Memphis, which shot 50 percent (40 of 80), lost for the first time in 18 games when shooting that well. ... The Pelicans shot 51.3 percent (39 of 76).
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