NEW ORLEANS – Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday took over the second half, scoring 60 points between them to hold off a strong Blazers rally for a 131-123 win and a series sweep Saturday at the Smoothie King Center.
In a two-man performance, the likes of which are rarely seen in the NBA post-season, Davis had 47 points and Holiday 41. Rajon Rondo added 16 assists. C.J. McCollum lead Portland with 38 in a heroic effort.
The Pelicans will now likely take on defending champion Golden State in the conference semifinals. Golden State have a 3-0 series lead over San Antonio. That series is slated to begin next weekend at the earliest.
Davis and Holiday put on a clinic in the second half – scoring 60 of the Pelicans 73 points on a series of drives, layups, put backs, jumpers and threes as they broke out to a 100-87 lead after 3. When Portland cut it to a two-point margin within the first three minutes, Holiday hit two short jumpers and Davis followed up a rare Holiday miss with a jam, before Holiday added a short jumper in the lane.
"I thought this was probably the best he's played since I've been here. He was just not going to let us lose," head coach Alvin Gentry said about Davis.
For his part Davis said he was trying to build a legacy in New Orleans, and he said he would so glad to see the crowd into it.
"It was fun. It was fun. The crowd was in it - both games," he said.
Rondo, who shared the post-game hero's podium with Davis and Holiday, said he had come to New Orleans to play with the 'Big 3' of Holiday, Davis and DeMarcus Cousins. He raised some eyebrows in a post-game press conference when he said he rated the performance by Davis and Holiday in the top 'four or five' that he's seen in his time. Holiday and Davis shared a laugh as if to wonder what more they could do to rank higher.
But Rondo reiterated that he came to New Orleans because he thought they could do big things.
"I came here to win a championship," he said. "I didn't come here to win a first or second round series."
The Portland Trailblazers were determined not to go down without a fight – literally. Several skirmishes broke out between the two teams during the contest as the third-seeded Blazers tried desperately to keep from getting swept to no avail Saturday.
Portland came out and played a tougher game, but the Pels were steady throughout, taking the body blows and scoring some of their own, taking a modest 58-56 lead into the break, but knowing they had done so without really staging a single run of points as they had in Game 3.
"We knew this game would be extremely hard... We knew we had to play our best game of the series," head coach Alvin Gentry said.
Portland had one last run in them, cutting the 100-87 third quarter deficit to two within three minutes.
The first half was a tough one for the Pelicans, despite the fact that they shot 60 percent from the field. A lot of the Pels looks were layups, dunks and short jumpers, accounting for 17 of 20 from inside the three-point arc, but only 3-13 from distance.
The Blazers were much more physical than in Game 3 and it showed. The Pelicans shot 19 free throws in the first half to Portland’s 9.
Former Pelican, Al-Farouq Aminu, who has had a strong series against his old team, had 15 points in the first half and was 3 of 5 from three-point land.
Anthony Davis had three fouls before halftime and was taken out to avoid a fourth.