ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jordan Goodwin had 20 points as Saint Louis stretched its home win streak to seven games, narrowly defeating George Washington 63-58 on Wednesday night.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The New Orleans Pelicans acquired forward Nikola Mirotic and a second-round draft pick from the Chicago Bulls for center Omer Asik, guards Jameer Nelson and Tony Allen, and a first-round pick.
The trade, announced by both teams late Thursday afternoon, comes less than a week after New Orleans lost All-Star DeMarcus Cousins for the season because of a left Achilles tear — and with the Pelicans still in the playoff picture.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — When DeMarcus Cousins was asked about his soaring, one-handed, put-back dunk in the fourth quarter, the Pelicans star took the opportunity to have a little fun at the expense of Pelicans teammate Jameer Nelson, sitting two lockers away.
"Well, I saw that Jameer was going to miss, so something just told me to keep going," said a chuckling Cousins, who got a running start from about the 3-point line on the play. "But when it left his hand, it didn't look too good."
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Toronto Raptors were pummeled in the paint and turned the ball over too often.
The way DeMar DeRozan and crew were shooting, it didn't matter.
DeRozan scored 25 points and the Raptors shot 59 percent from the floor to beat the New Orleans Pelicans 125-116 on Wednesday night.
Toronto made 47 percent of its 3-point attempts, and seven Raptors had at least 10 points. Among them were Kyle Lowry with 22, Jonas Valanciunas with 21 and C.J. Miles at 17.
DENVER (AP) — New Orleans forward DeMarcus Cousins will sit Friday night against Denver with tendinitis in his right Achilles.
The hard-to-cover Cousins is coming off a monster game against the Nuggets on Tuesday night, when he had 30 points and 14 rebounds in a 134-131 home loss.
Cousins missed a game with left knee soreness/bruised rib and two more due to a sprained right ankle since being acquired from Sacramento in late February. He sat another due to an NBA suspension.
MILWAUKEE (AP) — The way Nikola Jokic is playing, even his teammates are astonished.
With his second triple-double in two nights, Jokic led the Denver Nuggets to a 110-98 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday.
The 22-year-old center finished with 13 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists for his fourth career triple-double — all in his last 13 games.
"Amazing, amazing," Nuggets forward Danilo Gallinari said. "That is all I can tell you. (Jokic) is playing great for us."
DENVER (AP) — For the second straight game, Jameer Nelson took over late to try and rescue the Denver Nuggets from a fourth-quarter collapse.
This time he was successful.
Nikola Jokic had 23 points and 11 rebounds, Nelson scored seven of his 17 points in the last four minutes and the Nuggets held on to beat the Utah Jazz 103-93 on Tuesday night.