1) New Orleans (30-27) makes its lone home appearance of the season on ESPN tonight, hosting the Miami Heat at 7 p.m. The Pelicans’ previous national TV games (not counting NBA TV broadcasts) were at Golden State on TNT and at Dallas on ESPN. Read our game preview.
2) The Pelicans pulled within 1.5 games of eighth place in the West last night, when Oklahoma City (32-26) lost at Phoenix (31-28) moved into a virtual tie with New Orleans for ninth, but the Pelicans have a slightly better winning percentage and the tiebreaking advantage. OKC is at Portland tonight, in the second game of ESPN’s Friday doubleheader. On Sunday, NOLA is at Denver, while OKC visits the Lakers. Phoenix hosts San Antonio on Saturday.
3) Watch Thursday post-practice video of Anthony Davis, Tyreke Evans and Monty Williams.
4) Quincy Pondexter was “Mic’d Up” by Fox Sports New Orleans on Wednesday during the Brooklyn game.
5) Today’s Black & Blue Report features segments from Monty Williams’ weekly radio show.