Pelicans at Warriors
The New Orleans Pelicans are battling for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference, where they would very likely have to face the Golden State Warriors. The Pelicans will see how they stack up when they visit the Warriors on Friday. Golden State owns an NBA-best 31-2 record at home and has won 10 straight in its own building, including a 114-95 thrashing of the East-leading Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday.
The Pelicans are playing the second night of a back-to-back and are unsure of the status of star Anthony Davis after he was forced to miss a 74-72 loss at Phoenix on Thursday with a sprained left ankle suffered in the pregame shootaround. The setback dropped New Orleans one game behind the Oklahoma City Thunder for the No. 8 spot, and Davis is considered day-to-day moving forward. Golden State All-Star shooting guard Klay Thompson is expected to miss another week or so with a sprained ankle, but the Warriors had no trouble making up for his production Wednesday as Harrison Barnes and Andre Iguodala both stepped up.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, FSN New Orleans, CSN Bay Area (Golden State)
ABOUT THE PELICANS (37-31): New Orleans looked out of sorts offensively without Davis in the lineup and shot 37.3 percent from the field in the loss at Phoenix. The Pelicans got even more bad news in the third quarter when Omer Asik went down with a calf injury, leaving the team much smaller up front and giving them another injury question heading to Golden State and continuing on the three-game road trip. New Orleans fell to 14-19 on the road with the loss in Phoenix and will play eight of their final 14 games away from home.
ABOUT THE WARRIORS (54-13): Depth is one of the keys to success for Golden State, and Iguodala (21 points), Barnes (25) and Leandro Barbosa (13) combined to go 7-of-14 from 3-point range in the win over the Hawks to make up for Thompson’s missing long-distance threat. The Warriors lead the league in assists and handed out 39 on 44 made field goals Wednesday – the highest assist percentage in an NBA game this season. Golden State has three more games on its homestand beginning with New Orleans and is likely to start resting players with its next six games all part of back-to-backs.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Warriors have taken nine straight in the series, including a 112-85 win in the last home meeting Dec. 4.
2. New Orleans G Eric Gordon as hit multiple 3-pointers in seven straight games and 16 of the last 17.
3. Golden State F Draymond Green is shooting 54.8 percent from the field over the last four games.