Pelicans at Nuggets
Anthony Davis, coming off the best month of his two-year career, will attempt to pick up where he left off Wednesday night when the New Orleans Pelicans travel to the Denver Nuggets. Davis averaged 24.4 points and 10.8 rebounds in March, which included the best points-rebounds-blocks performance in franchise history against the Nuggets when he posted 32 points, 17 rebounds and six blocks in an overtime victory by the Pelicans. That matched his career-high point total but he has since bettered that mark three times in March, including a 40-point, 21-rebound performance against the Boston Celtics.
Denver enters with an identical record as New Orleans but the Pelicans are playing much better of late. The Nuggets had a winning record as recently as Feb. 6 but have gone 8-18 since. The Pelicans, who enjoyed just two days with a winning record back in early December, are 16-17 since Jan. 20 with wins in the last 10 days against the playoff-bound Miami Heat and Los Angeles Clippers.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, Fox Sports New Orleans, Altitude (Denver)
ABOUT THE PELICANS (32-42): Oft-injured guard Eric Gordon has missed the last six games with another knee injury and there’s no indication he’ll be back against the Nuggets. Anthony Morrow is thriving the most in Gordon’s absence, averaging 16.2 points in the last six games, more than double his season average (7.6). Tyreke Evans is also playing some of the best basketball of his five-year career, averaging 20.4 points in March, his best full month since January 2010.
ABOUT THE NUGGETS (32-42): Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins lit up the Pelicans for 35 points and 14 rebounds in a 102-97 win Monday night, and Denver center Timofey Mozgov could be in for another big game as well. He matched his career high with 23 points and took 10 rebounds Monday night in a two-point loss to the visiting Memphis Grizzlies. The Nuggets rewarded Mozgov with a three-year, $14-million contract last summer and he has paid them back by averaging a career-high 8.7 points and 6.1 rebounds.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Denver F Wilson Chandler, the team’s second-leading scorer, missed the last five games and remains day-to-day with a strained groin.
2. Denver G Randy Foye, an eight-year veteran, needs 12 more 3-pointers to match his career high of 178 last season.
3. The Pelicans went 9-7 in March for their first winning month since April 2012.