Gordon Hayward's buzzer-beater gave Utah a victory over the Dallas Mavericks last night, and the Jazz will now put their seven-game winning streak on the line against the Pelicans in New Orleans tonight.
Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. MT.
Superstar Anthony Davis headlines a Pelicans team that had a rough start to the season (1-11) and is now with a record of 19-32 trying to dig themselves out of that hole and back into playoff contention.
Davis leads New Orleans in points (23.5), rebounds (10.2), steals (1.3) and blocks (2.3) per game, and he's one of two players in the NBA (Sacramento's DeMarcus Cousins is the other) who's averaging 20+ points and 10+ rebounds per game this season.
Ryan Anderson comes off the bench and is second on the team in scoring at 17.1 points per game.
Injuries have largely crippled New Orleans' backcourt this season. Tyreke Evans (knee) is expected to miss the rest of the season, while Eric Gordon (finger) is out for another few weeks. Jrue Holiday is averaging only 25.9 minutes per game to minimize wear and tear on his legs, though he did average 18.0 points per game in January.
The Jazz have won seven straight games and are now sitting above .500 with a record of 26-25. Rodney Hood (29 points) hit a game-tying 3-pointer with 1.5 seconds left to force overtime, then Hayward (20 points) drilled a step-back jumper as time expired to give the Jazz a 121-119 victory over the Mavericks last night.
Hood has now scored 20+ points in seven of his last 10 games.
Tonight's game will be broadcast on ROOT SPORTS (Xfinity 693, DirecTV 683.1, Dish 452, Hopper 412-40). TV coverage begins at 5:30 p.m. MT. You can also listen to the game on the Utah Jazz mobile app, which is available for iPhone and Android.*
*Audio begins at tipoff and is limited to a 75-mile radius of Salt Lake City.