Anthony Davis Overtakes Bryant In Scoring Lead As Pelicans Top Lakers, 104-87

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Anthony Davis scored 23 points to overtake Kobe Bryant for the NBA scoring lead, Jrue Holiday had 22 points and eight assists, and the New Orleans Pelicans beat the Los Angeles Lakers 104-87 on Sunday night.

Ryan Anderson had 11 points and 10 rebounds off the bench, helping the Pelicans end a four-game road losing streak that included a 27-point drubbing by the Warriors on Thursday and a 20-point loss to the Clippers on Saturday night.

Bryant had 14 points in 31 minutes for the Lakers (5-16). He and Davis entered Sunday 1-2 in the league in scoring average at 25.8 points and 25.3, respectively.

With his team allowing an average of 111.2 points entering Sunday, first-year Lakers coach Byron Scott inserted power forward Ed Davis and point guard Ronnie Price into his starting unit while Carlos Boozer and Jeremy Lin came off the bench.

That ended Boozer's streak of 588 straight games as a starter. The 13-year veteran and two-time All-Star had 12 points and six rebounds over 23 minutes in his first game as a reserve since March 14, 2006, with Utah at Miami.

Lin played 20 minutes, finishing with three points and four assists. The five-year veteran started all 82 games in 2012-13 with Houston, but came off the bench in 44 of his 71 games with the Rockets last season before the Lakers acquired him on July 15.

Holiday's 12 points paced New Orleans to a 50-40 halftime lead. Nick Young, who was so upset following the Lakers' 113-96 loss at Boston on Friday night that he walked away from a TV interview at his locker after just 15 seconds, missed his first six shots against the Pelicans before hitting a 3-pointer that trimmed the Lakers' deficit to 63-57 with 4:28 left in the third.

Reserve Gal Mekel, playing his second game with the Pelicans, gave them their biggest lead at 83-59 on a fast-break layup 46 seconds into the fourth quarter. The Lakers closed to 83-71 with a 12-0 run ignited by 3-pointers from Young and Wayne Ellington and capped by Young's two free throws with 8:54 to play.

But that was as close as they got, as Anthony Davis helped put it away with two layups, a dunk and a 21-footer that gave New Orleans a 100-81 cushion with 2:54 left.

TIP-INS

Pelicans: Anthony Davis scored 25 points against the Lakers on Nov. 12 in a 109-102 victory at New Orleans. He is averaging 21.5 in eight career games against the Lakers, his highest against any club. He dropped 32 on them Nov. 8, 2013. ... Eric Gordon, who called Staples Center home for three seasons with the Clippers, missed his seventh straight game because of a sore left shoulder.

Lakers: Bryant needs 63 points to overtake Michael Jordan's total of 32,292 career points for third place on the career list. ... Boozer came in averaging 17.0 points and 9.9 rebounds in his 768 career starts, and 7.4 points and 5.4 rebounds in 41 games as a reserve. Lin came in averaging 14.1 points and 5.9 assists in 160 career starts, compared to 7.2 points and 2.7 assists in 77 games off the bench. ... Young finished 3 for 13 from the field.