2020-21 Pelicans season

Pelicans.com

The New Orleans Pelicans announced today the second half of their 72-game regular season schedule for the 2020-2021 campaign, presented by SeatGeek. The Pelicans will begin play after the All-Star break with a three-game home stand with matchups against Minnesota on Thursday, March 11, Cleveland on Friday, March 12 and the LA Clippers on Sunday, March 14, followed by a three-game road trip with two games in Portland (March 16, 18) and a stop in Denver (March 21).

The Pelicans will be featured on national television nine times during the second half of the season, starting with their March 14 matchup with the Clippers on ESPN. In addition to the March 14 game, ESPN is scheduled to broadcast New Orleans’ matchup at Brooklyn on Wednesday, April 7, at New York on Sunday, April 18 and vs. Golden State Monday, May 3. TNT is slated to air the Pelicans’ matchups at Portland on Tuesday, March 16, vs. the Los Angeles Lakers Tuesday, March 23 and the team’s home matchup with Brooklyn on Tuesday, April 20. NBA TV is scheduled to air the Pelicans’ road contests at Boston on Monday, March 29 and at Charlotte on Sunday, May 9. Additionally, four Pelicans contests will be broadcast nationally by ESPN Radio; March 14 vs. the LA Clippers, March 16 at Portland, March 23 vs. the Los Angeles Lakers and April 18 at New York.

The broadcast schedule for Pelicans games on FOX Sports New Orleans will be announced at a later date.

Eight of New Orleans’ 17 home games during the second half of the season fall on either a Friday (four), Saturday (two) or Sunday (two). All home games are scheduled to tip-off at 7:00 p.m. CST with the exception of four games that will tip-off at 8:00 p.m. CST (March 14 vs. the LA Clippers, March 27 vs. Dallas, April 2 vs. Atlanta and April 12 vs. Sacramento) and three games that will tip-off at 6:30 p.m. CST as part of a nationally televised double-header (March 23 vs. the Los Angeles Lakers, April 20 vs. Brooklyn and May 3 vs. Golden State). The tip-off time for the regular season finale on May 16 vs. the Lakers will be announced at a later date.

The Pelicans’ longest home stand is three games, which will occur two times, with the first coming immediately following the All-Star break from March 16-21, and the second coming at the end of March from the 23-27 with matchups against the Lakers, Denver and Dallas. The team’s longest road trip will come at the end of the regular season, with a weeklong trip featuring five games between May 7-14, stopping in Philadelphia, Charlotte, Memphis, Dallas and Golden State.

Season ticket holders who opted out of the 2020-21 season will have an opportunity to purchase ticket packages for second half home games through an exclusive pre-sale running Thursday, February 25 at 9:00 a.m. CST and concluding at 5:00 p.m. CST on Friday, February 26. A limited amount of single game tickets for second half home games are expected to go on sale to the general public on Thursday, March 4.

new-orleans-pelicans-announce-second-half-of-2020-2021-regular-season-schedule-presented-by-seatgeek

New Orleans Pelicans announce second half of 2020-2021 regular season schedule presented by SeatGeek

The New Orleans Pelicans announced today the first half of their 72-game regular season schedule for the 2020-2021 campaign, presented by SeatGeek. The Pelicans will begin the year on a two-game road trip, opening the season against the Toronto Raptors on December 23 in Tampa Bay, Florida, followed by a Christmas Day matinee against the Miami Heat at AmericanAirlines Arena. New Orleans will host its home opener at the Smoothie King Center on Sunday, December 27 against the San Antonio Spurs.

The Pelicans will be featured on national television 19 times during the first half of the season, starting with the Christmas Day game at Miami on ESPN. In addition to the Christmas Day game, ESPN is scheduled to broadcast New Orleans’ matchups vs. Charlotte (Jan. 8), at the Los Angeles Clippers (Jan. 13) and the Los Angeles Lakers (Jan. 15), vs. Milwaukee (Jan. 29), vs. Phoenix (Feb. 3) and at Dallas (Feb. 12). TNT is scheduled to broadcast six Pelicans games beginning with Dec. 29 at Phoenix and followed by contests at Utah (Jan. 21), vs. Houston (Feb. 9), at Memphis (Feb. 16), at Milwaukee (Feb. 25) and vs. Miami (Mar. 4). NBA TV is scheduled to air five Pelicans games beginning with New Orleans’ matchup vs. Toronto (Jan. 2) and followed by games at Dallas (Jan. 11), at Utah (Jan. 19), at San Antonio (Feb. 27) and vs. Utah (Mar. 1). ABC will broadcast one Pelicans game when the team hosts the Boston Celtics in a Sunday matinee on Feb. 21.

Eight of New Orleans’ 20 home games during the first half of the season fall on either a Friday (three), Saturday (three) or Sunday (two). All home games are scheduled to tip-off at 7:00 p.m. CST with the exception of two nationally televised games at 8:30 p.m. as part of a national double-header (Feb. 3 vs. Phoenix, Mar. 4 vs. Miami), three contests at 6:00 p.m. (Dec. 27 vs. San Antonio, Jan. 30 vs. Houston, Feb. 6 vs. Memphis), four contests at 6:30 p.m. (Jan. 2 vs. Toronto, Jan. 8 vs. Charlotte, Jan. 29 vs. Milwaukee, Feb. 9 vs. Houston), and one Sunday matinee at 2:30 p.m. vs. Boston on Feb. 21.

The Pelicans’ longest home stand is six games between Jan. 25-Feb. 3 when New Orleans will play host to San Antonio, Washington, Milwaukee, Houston, Sacramento and Phoenix, while the team’s longest road trip is a seven-game, 12-day excursion from Jan. 11-23 with stops in Dallas, Los Angeles to face both the Clippers and Lakers, Sacramento, two games in Utah, and Minnesota.

New Orleans will face all Western Conference opponents three times, with Pacific Division opponents coming to New Orleans twice and Northwest Division opponents coming to New Orleans once. For Southwest Division opponents, the Pelicans will play Dallas and Memphis twice on the road and once at home, and will host Houston and San Antonio twice at the Smoothie King Center, while visiting the Rockets and Spurs once. All Eastern Conference opponents will be played twice in the traditional setting of once at home and once on the road.

The second half of the 2020-21 regular season will be released at a later date.

new-orleans-pelicans-announce-first-half-of-2020-2021-regular-season-schedule-presented-by-seatgeek

New Orleans Pelicans announce first half of 2020-2021 regular season schedule presented by SeatGeek

Jim Eichenhofer

New Orleans established a franchise record in 2019-20 by being selected to appear 30 times on national TV. Based on the NBA’s first-half schedule released Friday, the Pelicans are on pace to surpass that number in 2020-21 – and by a significant margin.

Nineteen of the team’s 37 scheduled games will be broadcast by either ESPN, TNT, ABC or NBA TV; ESPN tops those networks with seven New Orleans games, followed by TNT’s collection of six. NBA TV is slated to show the Pelicans five times, while ABC will do so once (Jan. 21 vs. Boston). The second half of the Pelicans’ 72-game schedule will be announced during the latter portion of the season’s first half, likely adding greatly to the club’s exposure on the national airwaves.

From Dec. 23 through March 4, the Pelicans never have more than three consecutive non-national TV games. There’s one stretch from Jan. 8-15 in which New Orleans plays four straight games on ESPN or NBA TV, starting with a home tilt vs. Charlotte on ESPN, featuring the Ball brothers, Lonzo and LaMelo. One minor impact of national TV prevalence is on tip-off times of some home games in the Smoothie King Center, including four weeknight matchups that begin a bit earlier than normal at 6:30. There are also home games against Phoenix and Miami that won’t tip until 8:30 due to ESPN and TNT scheduling needs.

Toronto is first opponent for second straight season

Despite the fact that they play in opposite conferences, for a second straight season, the Pelicans will play at the Raptors to open the schedule. Of course, due to Covid-19-related travel restrictions in Canada, instead of the Dec. 23 game being held in Toronto this time, it will take place in Tampa, Fla., the Raptors' temporary home to open ’20-21. The New Orleans-Toronto two-game season series will be over quickly, with the Raptors coming to Louisiana on Jan. 2.

Only one multi-game ‘series’ in first half

There have been various reports in recent weeks that the NBA planned to implement “series” into the schedule, allowing teams to play more than one game against the same opponent in the same city, to reduce travel. At least as it relates to the Pelicans, that’s barely evident within their slate, with only one such instance taking place – they play at Utah on Jan. 19 and 21 during a multi-day visit to Salt Lake City. On the same seven-game, mid-January Western Conference trip, New Orleans also plays consecutive games in Staples Center, including one game apiece vs. the Clippers and Lakers. The other three matchups on a daunting excursion are to Dallas, Sacramento and Minnesota.

The NBA has stated that the league’s 30 teams will play an average of 14 back-to-backs during the ’20-21 regular season, but the Pelicans only have six scheduled in the first half. They do not play games in consecutive days until Jan. 29-30, when they host Milwaukee and Houston on the final weekend of that month. There are no instances in which New Orleans is scheduled to play back-to-back road games.

Although the 2021 Mardi Gras celebration will be drastically reduced in countless ways due to the ongoing pandemic, whether it’s a coincidence or not, the NBA schedule-maker still put New Orleans on the road during the culmination of Carnival. From Feb. 10-16, the Pelicans have road games in Chicago, Dallas and Memphis (Fat Tuesday is Feb. 16). New Orleans has never hosted games during the peak of Mardi Gras, due to logistical concerns in the city’s Central Business District.

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Pelicans first-half schedule features 19 national TV games

There may be no better illustration of the unique nature of this upcoming NBA season than the way New Orleans begins its 72-game schedule: Traveling to Central Florida to play an opponent normally based in Canada, inside an arena that has primarily hosted professional hockey. Beyond that opener in an unfamiliar venue, New Orleans’ first-half slate features a few other unusual aspects, including a six-game homestand and a seven-game, two-week January road trip, the latter marked by two games in Los Angeles and two games in Salt Lake City.

Due to the uncertainty surrounding 2020-21, the league only unveiled the first half of each team’s regular season schedule Friday. For the Pelicans, that means they now know their itinerary for their first 37 games. There are plenty of intriguing dates on NOLA’s first-half schedule – including 19 national TV appearances – but here are 10 highlights:

The Pelicans and Raptors will become the first teams to play an NBA regular season game in the Tampa Bay area, known in the sports world for being home to the NFL’s Buccaneers, MLB’s Rays and NHL’s Lightning. The Lightning will share Amalie Arena with the Raptors, at least during the first half of Toronto’s season, due to Canada’s travel restrictions preventing the 2019 NBA champions from operating in Ontario.

The defending Eastern Conference champion Heat host the Pelicans on Christmas for the second time in five years. Tipping off at 11 a.m. Central, this interconference matchup is the first of five NBA games on the holiday. They may not be matched up much one-on-one, but Zion Williamson and Miami’s Bam Adebayo are two cutting-edge, athletic bigs in the contemporary NBA.

Now in his fourth NBA season, Lonzo Ball will meet up with younger brother LaMelo for the first time in the pros. LaMelo was the No. 3 overall pick in this year’s NBA draft, one spot later than Lonzo was chosen in ’17. New Orleans’ pair of starting forwards, Williamson and Brandon Ingram, are both natives of the Carolinas.

Although the Lakers wound up sweeping the season series 4-0 over the Pelicans, last year’s head-to-head meetings were intense, with New Orleans players Ingram, Ball and Josh Hart facing their former Los Angeles squad as opponents for the first time. The clubs will only meet three times this season, with this being the lone matchup in Staples Center.

A seven-year member of the Pelicans prior to a November trade, guard Jrue Holiday will receive a warm welcome in his return to the Crescent City, marking the only Bucks visit of the regular season. Meanwhile, Eric Bledsoe faces Milwaukee, the team he helped lead to the NBA’s best record each of the past two seasons.

Based on a perfect 8-0 run in the Orlando bubble and the key trade acquisition of point guard Chris Paul, the Suns figure to be in the thick of the Western Conference playoff chase, perhaps a team the Pelicans will need to compete with in the standings. Phoenix shooting guard Devin Booker piled up a season-best 44 points in the Big Easy last season during a Suns overtime victory.

Behind James Harden, the Rockets have often been a thorn in the sides of the Pelicans, including winning three of their last four games in New Orleans. With Milwaukee last season, NBA All-Defensive guard Bledsoe used unconventional strategy and technique to force Harden to drive right, a key to a Bucks win at Toyota Center.

Williamson and Grizzlies point guard Ja Morant were picked 1-2 in the ’19 draft and emerged as the league’s two most impactful rookies last season. New Orleans seemed to be tracking down Memphis in the race for the West’s No. 8 seed before the regular season was shut down in mid-March, making the Grizzlies a potentially key team to scoreboard-watch for Pels fans this winter.

Several of the NBA’s most promising young players are on the floor when the Pelicans and Celtics meet in interconference competition twice a season. Boston has been one of the Eastern Conference’s premier teams, partly while relying heavily on three-year forward Jayson Tatum and four-year wing Jaylen Brown.

The final day of the first half of the NBA’s regular season features a TNT doubleheader, with a nightcap between the Heat and Pelicans. Of New Orleans’ 30 games in ’20-21 against clubs from the East, the Pelicans will play 15 of those in the first half, but only five on the road. Expect an extended trip or two to the Northeast from mid-March through mid-May.

ten-pelicans-games-to-watch-in-first-half-of-2020-21-season

Ten Pelicans games to watch in first half of 2020-21 season

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2020‑21 Pelicans season

New Orleans Pelicans announce second half of 2020-2021 regular season schedule presented by SeatGeek

New Orleans Pelicans announce first half of 2020-2021 regular season schedule presented by SeatGeek

Pelicans first-half schedule features 19 national TV games

Ten Pelicans games to watch in first half of 2020-21 season