1) New Orleans (32-27) extended its winning streak to a season-high five games with a 99-92 victory at Denver on Sunday night. Read many of your tweets in response to the #TakeFlight Question of the Night to conclude this recap.
2) Watch postgame video of Dante Cunningham, who made numerous key plays down the stretch, as well as Norris Cole, Eric Gordon and Monty Williams.
3) The only bad news from Sunday was that Oklahoma City (33-27) beat the Lakers, despite not having Kevin Durant or Russell Westbrook. As a result, the Thunder remain in eighth place in the Western Conference, but only by a half game. That lead could evaporate tonight. If the Pelicans win, they will be in eighth place, based on their 3-1 season-series win over OKC.
4) New Orleans visits Dallas (39-22) tonight at 7:30 p.m. Central (Fox Sports New Orleans) in the final matchup of the season between the Southwest Division squads. The Mavericks have five fewer losses than the Pelicans, making Monday’s game perhaps the last realistic chance for NOLA to eventually catch one of its Texas rivals. New Orleans trails 2-1 in the season series but would create a 2-2 deadlock by winning tonight; the second tiebreaking step is division record. The Pelicans own the upper hand in that department, with a 6-4 record in the Southwest, while the Mavs are 5-6. You only play 16 division games, meaning New Orleans would be close to sealing the division-record tiebreaker on Dallas by prevailing Monday.
5) Monday’s Black & Blue Report, hosted by Sean Kelley, features appearances from new Pelicans center Justin Hamilton and NBA legend Bob Lanier.