Pelicans guard Gordon returns after missing 16 games

The game will feature four of the most exciting young and upcoming players in the league, from New Orleans’ own Anthony Davis to the Minnesota Timberwolves’ Andrew Wiggins, Karl-Anthony Towns and Zach LaVine.

Wiggins’ two free throws tied the game and then, after the Pelicans missed a shot on the other end, Dieng’s drive to the basket put the Wolves back ahead 110-108 with 26 seconds left.

“It gives us another floor-spacer”, coach Alvin Gentry said. Gordon, who had 31 points for New Orleans, tied the game again at 110 with a pair of foul shots at 12.2 seconds, setting up the final sequence in which Wiggins drove to the basket and got the foul against Gordon.

– No Anthony Davis and his 59 points and 20 rebounds and no problem, right?

Six days after he did something only Shaquille O’Neal and Wilt Chamberlain have done, Davis was scratched from the Pelicans’ lineup minutes before the opening tip because of a foot injury the team announced he had sustained in pre-game warmups.

After missing 16 games with a fractured right ring finger, shooting guard Eric Gordon is set to return to the starting lineup. The Pelicans had no timeouts left so they had no choice but try to advance the ball, but the Timberwolves deflected the inbound pass and tracked it down to the corner.

Gordon appeared in all of New Orleans’ first 41 games, averaging 14.9 points, 2.7 assists and 2.1 rebounds per game while shooting 37.5 percent from 3-point range.

Following a 9-0 run by the Wolves out of halftime, the Pelicans aforementioned trio went back to work. Towns and Dieng scored seven points each in the first quarter, and Minnesota led by as many as seven points early in the quarter.

Ryan Anderson, a leading candidate for Sixth Man of the Year, started for Davis at power forward.

New Orleans answered with an 8-2 run and took a 66-56 lead on Gordon’s 3-pointer with 6:40 to play in the third. The Pelicans lost for the first time in eight games to the Timberwolves.