Pelicans at Nuggets
Any good feelings the New Orleans Pelicans developed about themselves while winning at Utah on Wednesday were wiped away with a terrible effort in a loss at Phoenix in the next game. The Pelicans attempt to bounce back when they close out a five-game road trip by visiting the Denver Nuggets on Sunday.
New Orleans had already beaten Phoenix twice this season and were gaining confidence before shooting 36.6 percent from the floor in a 104-88 loss to the Suns on Friday. ''Terrible, terrible, bad effort,'' first-year New Orleans coach Alvin Gentry told reporters. ''Not playing hard, not giving a (darn), that's the way I want to sum it up. We didn't play with effort. We didn't play together as a team, so nothing worked. Nothing, nothing.'' Nuggets coach Mike Malone has uttered similar sentiments about his team this season but is coaxing his club into a turnaround with five wins in the last seven games. Denver averaged 110.2 points in those five wins while putting up 81 in the losses, including a 97-88 setback at Utah last time out.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, FSN New Orleans, Altitude (Denver)
ABOUT THE PELICANS (7-19): New Orleans has dropped eight of its last 11 games and star Anthony Davis does not like the struggles at the offensive end leading to a lack of effort at the other end. “We’re going to miss shots, but we still have to be on our defense,” Davis told reporters. “(The Suns) killed us in fast break points and all of that, points in the paint. … We’ve got to get better if we want to win, we have to get better in all those categories. … We just acted like we didn’t care.” The Pelicans ranked 27th in defensive field-goal percentage (46.5) after Friday’s loss.
ABOUT THE NUGGETS (11-15): Denver shot 52.9 percent from the floor and buried 15 3-pointers in a 115-98 win at New Orleans on Nov. 17 as Danilo Gallinari broke out for 32 points. Gallinari was held to 11 as the Nuggets had a three-game winning streak come to an end in the loss at Utah on Friday. Power forward Kenneth Faried averaged 14.7 points on 16-of-28 shooting and 10.3 rebounds during the winning streak but slumped to eight points on 4-of-11 with seven boards on Friday.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Nuggets PG Emmanuel Mudiay (ankle) sat out the last three games and remains questionable.
2. New Orleans C Alexis Ajinca (calf) sat out Friday and is day-to-day.
3. Denver has taken five of the last six in the series.