NEW ORLEANS -- You can stop the presses on those New Orleans Pelicans championship banners.

DeMarcus Cousins made his Pelicans' debut with Anthony Davis Thursday night against the Houston Rockets, but even though the newly minted Twin Towers delivered a promising performance as a tandem -- combining for 56 points and 23 rebounds -- the Rockets forced 20 turnovers and torched New Orleans 129-99 behind a game-high 27 points from newly acquired guard Lou Williams.

Williams, a 12-year scoring machine who came to the high-octane Rockets from the Los Angeles Lakers in a trade during the All-Star break, played just 25 minutes but hit his first two 3-pointers off the bench and finished 7 of 11 from long range.

Before the game, Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni said he expected Williams to "get his feet wet" in his first game with new teammates. D'Antoni was asked if that had happened.

"Yeah, I think so," D'Antoni said, smiling. "We haven't started coaching him yet. Wait till we start coaching him down. He's a ball player, so I knew that he'd be OK. I didn't obviously know he was going to get 27. He just scores very easily. He'll have a lot of room to operate."

D'Antoni said he gave Williams one pre-game instruction: "Only shoot if (you) touch it."

The Rockets, who set the NBA record for 3-pointers in a game (24) in a 122-100 victory over the Pelicans in December, made 20 of 51 from long range (39.2 percent) on Thursday night. Three other Rockets, who at one time played in New Orleans, had at least three 3-pointers. Eric Gordon made four, and Ryan Anderson and Trevor Ariza had three each.

"Obviously, we've just got a lot of weapons and a lot of people who can score very quickly," D'Antoni said. "We have our identity. We put up 51 threes today and that's kind of what we want to average. We'll live with the results."

The Rockets placed six players in double figures. In addition to Williams, Gordon had 19, Anderson 17, Clint Capela 13, James Harden 13 (with 14 assists) and Montrezl Harrell 10.

Harden said the addition of Williams will make the Rockets (41-18) even harder to defend, especially the second unit.

"He fits in well with us," Harden said. "I told him to just go out there and play his game. If he had an open shot, shoot it. Tonight he led our team in scoring in his first game. We've always been having fun, and we add him to the mix and the things he does well, it fits in well."

Williams agreed.

"That was a pretty decent introduction, I would say," Williams said. "It was huge considering I hadn't worked out. It's easy to play with these guys and their very open style. Everybody eats, everybody's happy. I just felt like I would fit in with the style they play and the identity of the team, but you never know till the ball goes up.

"It's new life. I respect everything that the Laker organization is going through with trying to rebuild, but I'm in my 12th year and I would love to have the opportunity to compete at a high level."

The Pelicans (23-35) have more than a few kinks to work out with their retooled offense, moving away from a small, quick lineup before the Cousins trade to an offense essentially with a double post. Davis led the Pelicans with 29 points and Cousins, acquired in a blockbuster trade with the Sacramento Kings last Sunday, scored 27 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in his New Orleans debut.

But the Pelicans never looked smooth offensively, shooting just 6 of 31 from 3-point range and committing 20 turnovers.

"It was good to get the first one under the belt and out of the way," Cousins said. "Most of the turnovers were because guys were trying to make the right play, and it's obvious we're not used to one another. We kind of catered to one another instead of playing our own game. It's a lot easier said than done. We see the potential. We see what we need to work on. It's going to be a process."

Davis also said one practice was not enough to completely retool an offense.

"We're not worried about this game," he said. "It was our first game. We'll be fine. We're trying to figure it out on the fly. We're going to figure it out."

Cousins was asked what he learned in his first game with his new team.

"We're not ready," he said. "It's obvious. But the potential is there."

NOTES: Newly acquired F Omri Casspi, who came to New Orleans from Sacramento in the DeMarcus Cousins trade, broke his right thumb and will miss four to six weeks. ... Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry said no matter how talented F Anthony Davis and Cousins are, there will be a period of adjustment as they figure out what works best. "What we basically have is a college schedule left, and I think (our goal) has to be, 'What do we have to do to get to the NCAA Tournament?'" Gentry said. "I think it will be interesting to see how we can incorporate both of them into the game and how they play with each other and how they play when one is on the floor and the other one is not." ... Houston coach Mike D'Antoni said the Pelicans will have to adjust from small ball to tall ball, but they can make it work. "It's not always the easiest thing with about 25 games to go, but they are dealing with guys that are very talented, and I'm sure they'll be very good at it," D'Antoni said. ... The Pelicans waived F Terrence Jones and signed 6-8 F Hollis Thompson, a 3-point specialist, from the D League.