1) Houston spoiled the Pelicans debuts of DeMarcus Cousins and Omri Casspi, pulling away for a 129-99 victory last night.
2) Watch postgame reaction from Cousins, who scored 27 points and stuffed the stat sheet in other categories, as well as individual highlights. Unfortunately for New Orleans, Casspi sustained a broken right thumb in the fourth quarter and will be out 4-6 weeks.
3) New Orleans (23-35) remained 2.5 games out of eighth place in the Western Conference, due to Denver’s loss Thursday at Sacramento. The Pelicans will practice this morning in Metairie, then depart for Dallas in the afternoon. Check Pelicans.com later for coverage of practice.
4) The Pelicans face a challenging back-to-back this weekend, visiting Dallas and Oklahoma City on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. Tip-off for the games will be at 7:30 and 6 p.m., with pregame coverage on Fox Sports New Orleans and WRNO 99.5 FM beginning 30 minutes earlier each night. The Mavericks and Thunder picked up some frontcourt help at yesterday's trade deadline, landing Nerlens Noel and Taj Gibson.
5) Watch fan reaction to the Cousins trade, in interviews done prior to Thursday’s game.