(AFP) - It was night of nail-biting finishes in key National Basketball Association matches on Monday.
Ryan Anderson scored a career-high 36 points and Jrue Holiday made the deciding three-point play with 2.6 seconds remaining in triple overtime, as New Orleans edged out Chicago 131-128.
Eric Gordon added 23 points for the Pelicans, who were playing their first game without injured top scorer and rebounder Anthony Davis but were still able to complete a perfect three-game road trip, improving to 9-8.
Britain's Luol Deng had 37 points, eight rebounds and seven assists in a losing cause as the Bulls fell to 7-9. It was Chicago's sixth loss in seven games but the team's first home defeat of the season.
In other narrow wins on Monday, Tim Duncan scored 23 points, including a last-second basket to win the game, and grabbed 21 rebounds to spark the San Antonio Spurs over the Atlanta Hawks 102-100.
And in the match-up of conference leaders, LaMarcus Aldridge scored 28 points as the Portland Trail Blazers downed Indiana 106-102, snapping the Pacers' streak at seven games despite a career-high 43 points by Paul George.
The Pelicans' Davis, last year's top pick in the NBA draft, broke his left hand on Sunday in New York but his team - known as the Hornets until this season - took advantage of the best-scoring performance in Anderson's six NBA seasons to beat the Bulls.
Holiday, who sent the game into the first extra five-minute period on a jumper with 3.9 seconds remaining in regulation time, finished with 19 points and 12 assists.
Chicago's Taj Gibson scored 26 points and contributed 14 rebounds, while Mike Dunleavy netted 23 points for the Bulls.
In Texas, 37-year-old NBA superstar Duncan, who has led the Spurs to four league titles and twice won the regular season NBA Most Valuable Player award, took a pass from Manu Ginobili and sank the deciding shot with 0.4 of a second remaining.
Duncan, who hit 10 of 15 shots from the field and also blocked two shots, lifted the Spurs to their 15th victory in 18 games while the Hawks fell to 9-10 with their 16th consecutive loss in games played at San Antonio.
Boris Diaw came off the bench to score 16 points for the Spurs, while fellow Frenchman Tony Parker added 15 points and seven assists for San Antonio. Argentina's Ginobili finished with 10 points and seven assists.
The Hawks rallied late, sandwiching three-pointers by Paul Millsap and Jeff Teague around two Ginobili free throws to equalise at 100-all, setting the stage for Duncan's clutch shot.
Teague led Atlanta with 19 points while Al Horford added 18, DeMarre Carroll had 17 points and Millsap finished with 15 points and 14 rebounds.
Atlanta's Kyle Korver, whose 88 games in a row with at least one three-point basket is one shy of matching the NBA record, missed his fourth consecutive game with a rib bruise. The streak will not end until he plays and fails to connect from beyond the arc.
