Anthony Davis, Jrue Holiday Combine for 88 as Pelicans Sweep Trail Blazers

Scott Threlkeld/Associated Press

Anthony Davis scored 47 points and Jrue Holiday added 41 more as the New Orleans Pelicans completed their first-round NBA playoff sweep of the Portland Trail Blazers 131-123 at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on Saturday.

Rajon Rondo nearly posted a triple-double by amassing seven points, 16 assists and seven rebounds.

C.J. McCollum led the Blazers with 38 points, while Al-Farouq Aminu contributed 27. Damian Lillard (19 points) led the rest of the starters, who scored 117 of the team's 123 points.

Both teams put on offensive clinics: New Orleans made 57.0 percent of its field goals, while Portland wasn't far behind as it hit 52.6 percent of its shots.

The difference was New Orleans' ability to get to the free-throw line, as it connected on 32 of its 39 attempts from the charity stripe (Portland went 13-of-16). The Pels also won the battle of the boards, 44-33.

After taking a 58-56 lead into halftime, the Pelicans caught fire in a 42-point third quarter, as noted by the NBA's Twitter account:

NBA@NBA

Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday combine for 32 in the 3rd quarter! @PelicansNBA head to the 4th on top of @trailblazers 100-87. AD: 33 PTS, 11-14 FGM Jrue: 27 PTS, 6 AST Rajon Rondo: 7 PTS, 14 AST, 7 REB #DoItBigger #NBAPlayoffs CJ McCollum: 27 PTS https://t.co/35eOXn5Fpq

In particular, Davis scored 19 of his points in the frame:

NBA on TNT@NBAonTNT

.@AntDavis23 went OFF for 19 PTS in the 3rd quarter! 🔥 The @PelicansNBA lead the @trailblazers 100-87 with 12 min left to play. #NBAPlayoffs | #DoItBigger https://t.co/eJv1bHh5CK

Will Guillory of The Times-Picayune put it best:

Will Guillory@WillGuillory

Anthony Davis makes the game look so easy.

The Pels took a 100-87 lead into the fourth quarter, but the Blazers refused go away, opening the frame on a 15-4 run to cut the New Orleans lead to just 104-102 with 8:47 remaining. The advantage got as low as one when Aminu made a layup with 5:08 left.

However, Davis and Holiday were simply too strong down the stretch, as the duo scored New Orleans' final 12 points to maintain the lead and earn the eight-point victory.

During that span, Davis had a key putback slam to give the Pels a four-point lead:

NBA on TNT@NBAonTNT

The @PelicansNBA's bench after @AntDavis23's jam 😂 #NBAPlayoffs | #DoItBigger https://t.co/sYnrtg8VG4

Holiday also made a clutch bucket with less than a minute remaining:

NBA on TNT@NBAonTNT

.@Jrue_Holiday11 = CLUTCH 41 PTS & the 🗡 #NBAPlayoffs | #DoItBigger https://t.co/GPwKotosQG

This is New Orleans' second playoff series win dating back to 2002-03. The Pels have never advanced past the conference semifinals.

For the Blazers, a strong season that featured a stellar second half and a third seed in the Western Conference playoffs ends in disappointment. Portland has now lost in the first round three times in the past four years.

New Orleans will play the winner of the Golden State Warriors vs. San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference semifinals. Currently, Golden State is up 3-0 on the Spurs and will advance to the second round with a win on Sunday.

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