NEW ORLEANS _ He's not Michael Jordan, nor is he Jamal Crawford.
But in Sunday's fourth quarter New Orleans former 10-day contract signee Jordan Crawford was plenty to help beat the Timberwolves 123-109 at Smoothie King Center.
Crawford made consecutive 3-pointers and scored eight consecutive points for the Pelicans early in the fourth quarter after the Wolves had overcome New Orleans' 20-6 third-quarter run to pull within two points in the fourth quarter's opening seconds.
His scoring burst on a night he finished with 22 points off the bench pushed away a Wolves team that could never get closer than three points again.
After leading by as many as 13 points in the second quarter, the Wolves trailed by as many as 15 in the game's final ticking minutes.
They ended a three-game trip to Boston, Miami and New Orleans winless after they had started it hopeful of moving close to Denver for the Western Conference eighth and final playoff spot.
The Pelicans on Thursday re-signed Crawford for the rest of the season after they had signed him previously to a 10-day contract. A former Xavier star, he is playing for his fifth NBA team since he was drafted 27th overall by New Jersey in 2010.
Pelicans superstar Anthony Davis had 28 points and 12 rebounds after he averaged single-handedly destroyed the Wolves the first two times these teams played this season.
The Pelicans won both of those and on Sunday swept the season series, 3-0.
Wolves star Karl-Anthony Towns scored 33 points, Andrew Wiggins added 25 and Ricky Rubio had a 10-point, 14-assist double-double.
The first two times these teams played, Davis averaged 43.5 points on 67.3 percent shooting, including 57.1 percent from 3-point range, and 11.5 rebounds, 1.5 steals and a block per game as well.
When asked before the game what his team had done to beat the Wolves 117-96 one time and 122-106 the next, Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry paused and smiled.
"Anthony Davis," Gentry said simply before continuing. "He has been phenomenal against them. Probably the best two games against a team that he has played. He has been really, really good against, which has freed up other guys on the floor. I'm sure that they're going to try to do something tonight to slow him down or take him out of the rhythm he has had against them."
With fellow All-Star DeMarcus Cousins now alongside Davis for the first time against the Wolves, coach Tom Thibodeau assigned Gorgui Dieng to defend Cousins primarily and Towns to guard Davis primarily.
By late in the second quarter, Towns had lapped Davis in scoring, 16-8, before Davis heated up with a 10-point third quarter in which the Pelicans turned the game.
They did so with a 20-6 run that featured Davis and transformed a 63-55 deficit early in the third quarter into a 76-69 lead with fewer than five minutes left in the third.
When the Wolves pulled within a mere basket at 88-86 in the fourth quarter's opening seconds, Crawford simply went to work by scoring eight consecutive points for his team, including back-to-back 3s that he followed with a baseline jumper.
In fewer than 90 seconds, the Pelicans lead went from two points back to eight, at 96-88 with 10 minutes remaining.
The Wolves never got closer than three points again.
