1) After one of the longest breaks it will receive between games of the entire 2018-19 regular season, New Orleans (2-0) is back in action Tuesday, hosting the Los Angeles Clippers (2-1) at 7 p.m. Tickets are available here.
2) The Pelicans are at the forefront of an NBA early-season trend of scoring increasing and teams playing at a faster pace. Incidentally, the Clippers are third in the NBA in defensive efficiency (102.0) and 19th in tempo. For more on New Orleans and a look ahead to Tuesday's game, listen to Monday's Black and Blue Report, featuring TV analyst David Wesley.
3) In power rankings released Monday, the Pelicans topped out at third in NBA.com’s rundown. NBA.com’s John Schuhmann noted, “The only way to describe the start to the Pelicans’ season is with several flame emojis.” New Orleans also placed fourth on ESPN.com’s list, as well as fifth in SI.com’s rankings; the latter site commented “With (Nikola) Mirotic, New Orleans found the perfect complement to Anthony Davis. His floor spacing gives AD all the room he needs to work inside on the offensive end, and his rebounding takes a bit of the pressure of Davis, who is already at the center of the defense.” Lastly, CBS apparently wants to see a little bit more before pushing the Pelicans too far up the totem pole, ranking them No. 10, just ahead of the Lakers (0-2 when the list was released, now 0-3).
4) Watch a humorous video featuring Pelicans player face mash-ups, including a “rude” combination late in the clip.
5) Speaking of combinations, Alvin Gentry and Jrue Holiday also spoke to the media Monday after practice, as did Elfrid Payton.