1) New Orleans picked up a second straight one-sided victory Friday, this time besting Phoenix 122-103. The Pelicans (45-34) moved into fifth place in the Western Conference by virtue of the win.
2) Watch postgame video reaction from Nikola Mirotic (31 points, 16 rebounds), Anthony Davis (33 points, 11 rebounds), Jrue Holiday (22 points, 10 assists) and Alvin Gentry.
3) After arriving at their San Francisco hotel a bit before 2 a.m. this morning, the Pelicans jump back into game action Saturday, visiting Golden State (57-22) at 7:30 p.m. Central. The Warriors are guaranteed the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference and will open the NBA playoffs at home next weekend in Oracle Arena.
4) It’s going to be a busy and important Saturday around the West, beginning with a critical Denver-Clippers matchup that tips off at 2:30 p.m. Central. Oklahoma City-Houston (nationally televised by ABC) begins at the same time as New Orleans-Golden State, while San Antonio will host Portland at 8 Central. The Clippers (42-37) must win Saturday to stay alive in the West playoff chase and the Pelicans are on the brink of putting Los Angeles permanently in the rearview mirror, only needing to win any of their final three games to do so, or have the Clippers lose any game. Meanwhile, ninth-place Denver (44-35) is one game behind New Orleans and owns the tiebreaking advantage on the Pelicans, but the Nuggets have a very difficult closing schedule, consisting of at Clippers, vs. Portland and at Minnesota. New Orleans cannot clinch a playoff berth Saturday, but would come exceptionally close with a combination of a win over Golden State and a Denver loss in the afternoon at Staples Center.
5) The reason New Orleans is technically in fifth place despite a three-way deadlock at 45-34 with San Antonio and Oklahoma City is the Pelicans own the tiebreaker on both the Spurs (2-1 lead in season series) and Thunder (won season series 2-1). Those squads are a hair ahead of eighth-place Minnesota (45-35), which only has two games remaining - Monday vs. Memphis and Wednesday vs. Denver. Things could get extremely tricky given the real possibility of there being a three- or four-way tie when the regular season concludes late Wednesday; one concern for New Orleans is that it lost its season series 4-0 to Minnesota, so tying the Timberwolves through 82 games would not be ideal.