Pelicans at Nets
The New Orleans Pelicans still believe they can make a run at the playoffs in the Western Conference as long as star power forward Anthony Davis is healthy. Davis, who left a win at New York on Monday in the third quarter with a bruised left hip, expects to be back in the lineup when the Pelicans visit the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday.
Davis needed only 29 minutes to collect 40 points, 18 rebounds and three blocks in Monday's 110-96 triumph that snapped a three-game slide and evened New Orleans' record on its five-game road trip at 1-1. "I’m being aggressive," Davis told reporters. "I know where we are, I know what we are trying to do as a team, and we just try to come out aggressive." The Nets are much further from playoff contention and own the worst record in the NBA with their latest slide reaching seven straight in a 117-97 home loss to Atlanta on Tuesday. “I wish we were a little more competitive," Brooklyn coach Kenny Atkinson, a former assistant with the Hawks, told reporters. "They set the bar high. We’d like to strive to be a similar program. We have a lot of work to do."
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FSN New Orleans, YES (Brooklyn)
ABOUT THE PELICANS (15-24): New Orleans pointed to the stretch of schedule in the weeks surrounding New Year's as the time to make a move up in the standings, and Monday's performance marked a step in the right direction. "We have to play the way we played (Monday on the rest of the road trip)," Pelicans reporter Alvin Gentry told reporters. "I thought we were efficient offensively. Our defense has been pretty solid the last two or three weeks. ... I thought we had ball movement, we got the ball to Anthony in space, he was able to make some shots and make some plays for us." The trip gets tougher with stops at Chicago and Indiana before the team returns for a six-game homestand.
ABOUT THE NETS (8-29): A big reason Atkinson is getting some leeway to implement a new system from the players is veteran center Brook Lopez's willingness to buy into new ideas. “You’ve just got to keep going," Lopez told reporters after the latest setback. "Rome wasn’t built in a day. It’s trite for a reason. We’re working on something here." Lopez leads the team in scoring (20.1 points) and is shooting 36.3 percent from 3-point range in 179 attempts from beyond the arc after totaling 31 attempts in his first eight seasons.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Nets PF Trevor Booker (hip) sat out the last game but is expected to be back on Thursday.
2. Pelicans rookie SG Buddy Hield is 21-of-39 from 3-point range over the last seven games.
3. New Orleans took the last five in the series, including a 106-87 triumph in the trip to Brooklyn last season.