A look at three key numbers related to Saturday’s game at the Smoothie King Center between Houston and New Orleans (6 p.m., Fox Sports New Orleans, WRNO 99.5 FM):
119.0: New Orleans scoring average over two head-to-head games vs. Houston this season, including a 123-point output Dec. 11, while playing without Anthony Davis. Unfortunately for the Pelicans, during the final seconds of the Jan. 26 meeting – a 115-113 victory for New Orleans – DeMarcus Cousins was lost for the season due to an Achilles injury. Although Houston is the most aggressive team in the NBA at firing three-point attempts, New Orleans (39-29) has enjoyed a big advantage in that category during the two matchups. The Pelicans have shot nearly 50 percent from beyond the arc against the Rockets, going 29 of 60, while the Rockets have also made 29 treys, but needed 81 attempts to do so, for a rate of just 35.8 percent. At the Toyota Center in December, E’Twaun Moore notched a career high by scoring 36 points, including shooting 6/8 on trifectas. Jrue Holiday tallied 37 points in the same game, but the Davis-less Pelicans lost 130-123.
5, 6, 7, 8: The list of possible places in the Western Conference standings where New Orleans could be after Saturday’s games – that’s how tight the race is at the moment. With a win over Houston combined with a Minnesota loss at San Antonio, the Pelicans will move up from their current sixth-place status to fifth. On the flip side, a New Orleans defeat combined with victories by Utah (home vs. Sacramento) and San Antonio (home vs. Minnesota) would push the Pelicans down to eighth place. There are numerous other scenarios where NOLA would either remain in sixth or assume seventh place. This weekend, there are a couple notable games pitting teams that are both in West spots 3 through 10, including tonight’s Timberwolves-Spurs meeting, as well as Sunday’s matchup of Trail Blazers-Clippers. Third-place Portland (42-26, winners of 11 in a row) has begun to create a cushion in its slot, now three full games ahead of New Orleans.
5: Pelicans games in the next six days, all at home in the Smoothie King Center, a hectic stretch that’s necessitated by a Wednesday rescheduled game vs. Indiana. New Orleans is 18-14 at home this season and has been a hair better on the road (21-15), but the Pelicans would have virtually the same mark in both categories if they can go 3-2 or 4-1 on this rapid-fire five-game homestand. The competition is stiff this weekend, including the NBA’s best team (Houston 54-14) and the Eastern Conference’s second-best club (Boston 47-22, No. 4 winning percentage in the league). New Orleans will play Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, a three-games-in-three-days span that will be the only of its kind in the NBA this season. Teams always have a day off after playing consecutive games, but the schedule had to be reconfigured when a February game against the Pacers was postponed.