NEW ORLEANS — The Boogie-and-Brow era in New Orleans is off to a highly inauspicious start.

The Pelicans’ tandem of newly acquired All-Star DeMarcus Cousins and All-Star Game MVP Anthony Davis was no match for the surging Houston Rockets on Thursday night.

Reserve Lou Williams hit seven 3-pointers and scored 27 points in his Rockets debut, and Houston crushed New Orleans, 129-99.

Davis had 29 points, and Cousins finished with 27 points and 14 rebounds. But New Orleans turned the ball over 20 times couldn’t keep pace with the firepower of the Rockets, who hit 20 3-pointers.

Eric Gordon scored 19 points and Ryan Anderson added 17 in both players’ first game in New Orleans since leaving the Pelicans. James Harden had 13 points and 14 assists.

PISTONS 114, HORNETS 108: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 33 points, including three 3-pointers late in the fourth quarter during a pulsating Detroit rally, and the Pistons prevailed in overtime.

Caldwell-Pope scored Detroit’s last 11 points of regulation, and his 3-pointer with 18.2 seconds to play tied the game at 100. Kemba Walker scored Charlotte’s final nine points of the fourth, but the Pistons forced him to give up the ball on the last possession, and Marco Belinelli missed a 3-pointer that could have won it.

CAVALIERS 119, KNICKS 104: LeBron James recorded his 48th career triple-double, leading host Cleveland over New York.

James scored 18 points and had 13 rebounds with 15 assists for his sixth triple-double of the season.

SEVEN DEADLINE-DAY trades were put together by the 3 p.m. deadline Thursday – but no late blockbusters.

Toronto landing P.J. Tucker from Phoenix gives the Raptors another outstanding on-the-ball defender.

But contenders mostly stayed quiet. An earlier agreed-upon trade of note was officially completed, the one that sent Lou Williams to Houston from the Los Angeles Lakers.

Perhaps the most interesting moves Thursday were not trades at all. Dallas put five-time All-Star point guard Deron Williams on waivers, and a source said that when Williams clears he plans to sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers, which would give LeBron James the extra playmaker he covets.

Of the players traded Thursday, only Roy Hibbert – traded for the second time this month, this time from Milwaukee to Denver – has been an All-Star.

Philadelphia kept Jahlil Okafor and instead moved Nerlens Noel to Dallas as part of the deal that sent Andrew Bogut to the 76ers.

The backlog of big men in Philadelphia – Noel, Okafor, Joel Embiid, newly acquired Tiago Splitter and No. 1 overall pick Ben Simmons presumably at some point – made it seem like moves were going to happen, and Noel wound up being the one to go.

“Gonna miss my best friend,” Embiid said, “but I’m happy for him.”

So whether players stayed or went, when 3:01 p.m. arrived there was plenty of exhaling around the league.

“We’re professionals,” said Minnesota point guard Ricky Rubio, the subject of many rumors. “But we’re human beings, too. We have feelings.”

And in Indiana, Paul George finished practice with the same teammates he’s played with all season.

After almost a week of speculation about George’s future, the Pacers stood pat at the deadline.