New Orleans rookie Herbert Jones is about to play in his 11th NBA “back-to-back” this season, but this one will be significantly different from all of his previous sets of two games in two nights. After New Orleans hosts Dallas at 7 p.m. Thursday (Bally Sports, 100.3 FM), Jones will catch a late flight to Cleveland, in order to be in Ohio for Friday’s NBA Rising Stars event. Jones was among 12 first-year pros invited to participate in the competition, which is featuring a brand-new, four-team tournament format in 2022.
Jones previously vowed to bring his competitiveness and defensive mentality to an event that’s not known for either of those. After Thursday’s morning shootaround, the Alabama product said he’s also looking forward to some socializing during the 24-hour period he’ll be in Cleveland.
“Getting to meet new people,” said Jones, who generally comes across as reserved and quiet off the court. “Build relationships while I’m there. Not just be a ghost.”
After playing in 50-plus games for New Orleans and over 1,600 minutes this season, Jones is also ready for some downtime. He has a 7 a.m. flight Saturday scheduled out of Cleveland back to his native Alabama.
“After (Friday’s event) I’m going home and relaxing the rest of the break,” he said. “I tried to get on the first flight out of Cleveland.”
Other notes from shootaround:
Jones on what makes Dallas driving force Luka Doncic such a dangerous offensive player: “He can pass it, score it at all three levels. He has a great all-around game. We’ve just got to make it super, super tough on him. Try to wear him down. I feel like that will give us the best chance to win, if we execute the game plan how we need to.” …
Like Jones, veteran guard CJ McCollum is headed to Cleveland this weekend. He will compete in Saturday’s three-point contest, the third time he’s been a participant. Although he might have benefited from some time off after moving cross-country from Portland to New Orleans just before last week’s NBA trade deadline, McCollum already had obligations during All-Star weekend due to his role with the NBA Players Association.
“I’m going to get a few days off – you don’t have to worry about that,” McCollum said, grinning. “(But) I committed to the three-point contest before I was traded, knowing that I was probably going to be traded, so I signed up for it knowing what it would mean. I (also) had some meetings in Cleveland that I needed to attend to as the President of the PA. So why not make some threes on the way out?”
McCollum said he’ll be in Cleveland for less than 48 hours, flying out early Sunday morning. Every NBA team is off for a couple days after Sunday's All-Star Game.
DALLAS SCOUTING REPORT
Offensive efficiency rank: 16 (110.4)
Defensive efficiency rank: 5 (106.9)
Net rating: 8 (+3.5)
Pace: 30 (95.81)
Streak: Won 1
Go-to guy: An All-Star for the third straight year, Doncic has been rampaging lately, doing further damage in head-to-head matchups with the Clippers by scoring 51 points in a win and following that up with 45 in a two-point loss to LA. Doncic has averaged 24.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 8.7 assists in three meetings this season with New Orleans, while shooting 49 percent from the field. On the plus side for the Pelicans, he’s committed 20 turnovers.
On the rise: Reggie Bullock has been Dallas’ third-leading scorer since the trade deadline, relying on his usual dose of spot-up threes (7/16) to average 14.0 points. He is questionable to play Thursday due to a hip injury. A free-agent signee in the offseason from New York, the Knicks have missed Bullock’s perimeter shooting and defense. He nailed an overtime-forcing trey against New Orleans last season in Madison Square Garden.
PREVIOUS GAME STARTING LINEUPS
DALLAS (34-24, 5TH IN WEST)
Tuesday win at Miami
Jalen Brunson, Luka Doncic, Josh Green, Dorian Finney-Smith, Dwight Powell
Notes: This group is 1-0. A second-year pro, Green made his first start of the season against the Heat and only the sixth of his brief NBA career. … If the season ended today, the Mavericks would face fourth-seeded Utah in the first round of the West playoffs. … Dallas has two separate lineup combinations that have gone 6-2 this season, but both include the since-traded Kristaps Porzingis, who had a few big games against New Orleans during his Mavericks tenure.
NEW ORLEANS (23-35, 11TH IN WEST)
Tuesday loss vs. Memphis
Devonte’ Graham, CJ McCollum, Herbert Jones, Brandon Ingram, Jonas Valanciunas
Notes: This group is 1-3. It has lost to Miami (second in East), Memphis (third in West) and San Antonio (12th in West), beating Toronto (seventh in East). … New Orleans is 1.5 games behind Portland (25-34) for the final play-in tournament spot in the West. With San Antonio (23-36) idle Thursday, the Pelicans must win in order to remain in the No. 11 slot. The Spurs own the tiebreaking advantage based on a 2-0 lead in the season series, with two March matchups remaining.
FANDUEL KEYS TO THE GAME
SET THE TONE
New Orleans was playing catch-up from the start Tuesday in its loss to Memphis, a scenario that has played out in nearly all of its recent defeats. On the season, the Pelicans rank No. 23 in first-quarter average scoring differential at minus 1.3, their worst placing among the 30 NBA teams in any period.
DEFENSIVE REBOUNDING
New Orleans has uncharacteristically struggled rebounding-wise this week, particularly at its defensive end. The Pelicans are the NBA’s third-best defensive rebounding club (74.1 percent of available boards) but won’t remain that high if they repeat allowing 19 offensive rebounds to Toronto and 18 to Memphis. The Grizzlies and Raptors rank 1-2 in offensive boards, but Dallas is just 24th.
MATCHUP TO WATCH
It’s a battle of elite guards to wrap up the first half of the season. Since the NBA trade deadline on Feb. 10, Doncic leads all players in scoring average (39.0) and was named Western Conference Player of the Week. McCollum ranks 19th in scoring at 26.0 during the same period, shooting 51 percent from the field.