Pelicans at Hawks
The New Orleans Pelicans are a different team with Jrue Holiday in the lineup and are undefeated since the point guard made his return. The Pelicans will try to improve to 3-0 with Holiday in the lineup when they visit the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday.
Holiday missed training camp and most of the first month to be with his wife after she gave birth to their first child and underwent surgery to remove a benign brain tumor, but he doesn't seem to have missed a beat. New Orleans is easing Holiday back into the rotation off the bench, and he averaged 21.5 points on 17-of-31 shooting in 26.5 minutes in back-to-back wins on Friday and Saturday - the first time this season the Pelicans managed consecutive victories. The Hawks are trending in the opposite direction with back-to-back losses on the heels of a six-game winning streak. Atlanta failed to reach 100 points in both setbacks and shot 40 percent from the field, including 6-of-21 from 3-point range, in a 104-94 setback at the New York Knicks on Sunday.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, NBATV, FSN New Orleans, FSN Southeast (Atlanta)
ABOUT THE PELICANS (4-10): New Orleans is 4-2 in its last six games after beginning the season with eight straight losses, and having Holiday back gives superstar forward Anthony Davis a dependable second option. Davis put up 38 points in each of the two games with Holiday back, and the two seem happy to be working together. "I think there were times where I had two guys try to block a shot and even though I missed the layup, I knew that Anthony Davis is going to be there," Holiday told reporters after a 121-116 overtime triumph over Charlotte on Saturday. "When Anthony Davis is in the game and you are attacking the basket, just know that he is around the rim somewhere getting a hand on it."
ABOUT THE HAWKS (9-4): Atlanta rises and falls with the play of its point guard as well, and Dennis Schroder averaged 17.3 points and 6.8 assists while shooting 52.2 percent from 3-point range during the six-game winning streak. The 23-year-old slumped to 11 points and went 0-of-5 from beyond the arc at Charlotte on Friday before bottoming out with one point on 0-of-8 shooting (0-of-3 from beyond the arc) at New York on Sunday. "It wasn't Dennis' fault," All-Star forward Paul Millsap told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution after Sunday's loss. "Guys are going to struggle. There are 82 games in a season. When that happens, the rest of us have to be better. We have to pick up the slack. That just wasn’t the case tonight."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Hawks C Dwight Howard recorded 18 points and 18 rebounds on Sunday for his 10th double-double.
2. New Orleans waived G Archie Goodwin and called up G Anthony Brown from Erie of the NBA D-League.
3. Atlanta took the two meetings last season by an average of seven points.