Davis questionable heading into Pelicans' visit to Celtics
BOSTON -- Celtics fans get to have their annual daydream on Monday night.
Anthony Davis and the New Orleans Pelicans are in town.
But Davis, who has been traded to Boston an infinite number of times in the minds of the Celtics faithful, may not even be on display as the Pelicans look to end Boston's five-game winning streak.
The Pelicans defeated the Pistons 116-108 in Detroit Sunday, but Davis was injured in the first quarter when he collided with Blake Griffin. He left the game with a left hip issue, returned in the second half and wound up playing 26 minutes.
But after the game, coach Alvin Gentry left Monday night very much up in the air.
"It will be evaluated later," Gentry said. "A lot of times it's the next day where the pain is. We'll have to wait and see. If he's not ready to go, we're not going to press the issue -- not less than 30 games into the season."
Jrue Holiday scored 37 points and Julius Randle had 28, and New Orleans won with Davis totaling six points, three before the injury, while adding nine rebounds and five blocked shots, making a difference despite his injury.
"He was hurt, so it took away from his aggression (on offense), but for him to have that type of impact on the defensive end, it really propelled us to the win," Randle said on radio after the game.
The Pelicans (14-14) have gone on a win-lose pattern through the last seven games, one of those defeats coming at the hands of the Celtics in New Orleans -- the first of the five straight wins for Boston as the Celtics have exploded out of a 10-10 record and all kinds of doubts with their winning streak.
Saturday night in Chicago, the Celtics recorded the loudest win in the proud history of the franchise -- handing the Bulls their worst-ever loss in a 133-77 rout.
Daniel Theis, getting a rare start because of injuries to Al Horford and Aron Baynes, scored a team-high 22 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and was an amazing plus-50 in the latest win.
Terry Rozier, who had 15 points, eight rebounds, three steals and two assists off the bench, thinks his team has quieted the early detractors.
"I mean, obviously it's been very good for us, winning our last couple games, so we want to keep it going," Rozier said. "And everybody can shut up, because everybody can be very annoying when we're losing. Very annoying."
While Horford and Baynes remained questionable for Monday night, Guerschon Yabusele left the game with a sprained right ankle and could be out for a while.
The Celtics opened Saturday night's game with a 17-0 run and cruised from there.
Marcus Smart tied team president Danny Ainge for ninth place on the Celtics' all-time 3-pointer list with 348 -- leading Ainge to tweet: "Uh oh, trade deadline moved up to Monday. Marcus is a stud."
To show you how the game has changed, Ainge needed 556 games and was 348-for-906 from behind the arc. Smart, hardly known as a shooter but never shy about hoisting them up, is 348-for-1,178 in just 286 games.
New Orleans swept the two-game series from the Celtics last year, ending Boston's three-game TD Garden winning streak over the Pelicans.
