A look at three key numbers related to Friday’s game at the Smoothie King Center between Dallas and New Orleans (7 p.m. Central, Fox Sports New Orleans, NBA TV, WRNO 99.5 FM):
7: New Orleans rank among the 30 NBA teams in rebounding percentage in 2018-19, led by the board work of Anthony Davis (12.9 rpg, fifth in the league), Julius Randle (9.3 rpg, 20th) and Nikola Mirotic (9.2 rpg, 21st), who will miss his seventh consecutive game Friday due to an ankle injury. While the Pelicans certainly miss Mirotic’s scoring punch and ability to strike from three-point range, they’ve also experienced a significant decline in rebounding effectiveness over the past two-plus weeks without the forward. Since a Dec. 12 win over Oklahoma City – the first game Mirotic sat out during this recent span – New Orleans ranks just No. 22 in the NBA in rebounding percentage (49.1). Although it’s true that four of those six recent games have been on the road, relative to the rest of the league, New Orleans is a better rebounding team this season in away games (third-ranked, grabs 51.1 percent of all available boards) than at home (11th, 51.8). The median NBA team collects 51.5 percent of rebounds at home, but 49.3 percent of road boards. In Wednesday's matchup in Texas, Dallas won the rebounding battle 46-39 over New Orleans.
5-0: New Orleans record when both Davis and Elfrid Payton play this season, including wins to open the campaign over Houston, Sacramento, the Clippers and Brooklyn, along with a Nov. 16 triumph against New York, in which Payton sustained a broken finger that’s kept him sidelined for the past month and a half. On Thursday, Payton participated in practice, raising hopes that he may be back in uniform soon – though he noted that there is no specific “target date” yet for his return. Over the past two seasons, New Orleans is 46-25 when it has its starting point guard available (41-24 with Rajon Rondo in ’17-18, 5-1 with Payton this season), but only 17-29 without its first-string floor general (7-10 without Rondo last season, now 10-19 when Payton doesn’t play this season). In other words, the Pelicans have been the equivalent of a 53-win team with its planned starting PG, but a 30-win club otherwise. In the first five games of the season – all with Payton on the court – Mirotic shot 15/33 from three-point range (45.4 percent), but he’s gone 48/148 since (32.4 percent).
8, 21: Dallas rookie Luka Doncic’s point production Dec. 5 in New Orleans and Dec. 26 at home while facing the Pelicans, respectively. More than any other factor, Doncic’s performance has served as a barometer for the Mavericks while already facing their Southwest Division rivals twice this month. The lottery pick was bottled up by Jrue Holiday’s defense three-plus weeks ago in the Smoothie King Center, tallying the eight points on just 2/8 shooting from the field. Two days ago at the American Airlines Center, Doncic still struggled a bit from the floor (5/13), but went 11/12 at the foul line and dished out a game-high 10 assists. New Orleans won on its home court 132-106, but Dallas answered with a 122-119 home triumph with Doncic excelling in pick-and-rolls. Combined over the two matchups vs. the Pelicans, the 19-year-old is just 1/9 from three-point range, but has 16 assists and only three turnovers.