NEW ORLEANS _ The last time the Timberwolves visited New Orleans, the Pelicans scratched young superstar Anthony Davis from the lineup because of a foot injury he sustained in warmups, just six days after he delivered a 59-point, 20-rebound game last February.
No such luck Wednesday night at Smoothie King Center.
That's where Davis played on despite a knee he banged Tuesday night in Atlanta and where Davis scored 45 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in a 117-96 victory during which the third quarter vexed the Wolves yet again.
Davis has scored 30 or more points 10 times already this season, and he did so Wednesday before the third quarter was three minutes old. By near game's end, the home crowd chanted "MVP, MVP" repeatedly.
Meanwhile, the Wolves were outscored 36-18 in the third quarter alone again, in a game when young star Andrew Wiggins' sudden shooting woes continued _ and in spades _ while the Wolves again almost no offensive production from their point-guard position.
Pelicans forward Anthony Davis watched his shot arch over Timberwolves forward Andrew Wiggins, forward Adreian Payne and center Karl-Anthony Towns.
After shooting 7-for-29 from the field in losses at Memphis on Saturday and against Boston on Monday, Wiggins made one of his first 12 attempts and just two of his 19 all night.
At Wednesday's morning shoot, Wiggins called those two previous games simply a matter of shots he usually makes not going down.
Just 10 days earlier, he had scored a career-high 47 points in a victory over the Los Angeles Lakers and in a stretch in which he followed by scoring 29 and 35 points while also being one of the NBA's top percentage 3-point shooters.
"I can't really be down on myself or nothing like that," Wiggins said. "I shot the shots I usually make. Some games it's not going to go in."
Wednesday's game was one of those games, the third one consecutively.
Meanwhile, Ricky Rubio didn't make a shot _ he only took two _ and didn't score a point after he shot 2-for-18 in the three games before that. Rookie Kris Dunn provided the only points from that position, with six while he played the entire fourth quarter with the game long decided.
Nearly nine months ago, the Wolves prevailed against a Pelicans team playing without Davis and they did so 112-110 after Wiggins created a play that drew a foul and he made two winning free throws with 3.6 seconds left.
Moments later when it was all over, interim head coach Sam Mitchell slapped his hands together so hard in celebration he was lucky he didn't break both of them, and the Wolves' postgame locker room sounded like a party, one of the loudest scenes of the season.
Their celebration came just six days after Davis joined Shaquille O'Neal and Wilt Chamberlain as the only players to reach that 59-point, 20-rebound threshold.
This time around, Davis left Tuesday's 112-94 victory over the Hawks after he hurt his knee just nine minutes into the game. He returned later to play nine-plus more minutes in a game the Pelicans _ losers of their first eight games this season, now winners of four games consecutively and six of eight after beating the Wolves _ didn't need him to win.
He was listed as probable to play in the morning, cleared to go before the game and had 21 points in the first quarter alone and 39 by the end of three quarters.
The Pelicans led by as many as 12 points early, but trailed by eight points midway through the second quarter after a 21-9 Wolves' run.
They then pushed back, building a 53-50 lead by halftime that they stretched to 80-61 late in the third.
