1) Week 23 of the NBA schedule is as busy as it gets for New Orleans (40-30) over the next few days, with the Pelicans hosting an extremely rare back-to-back-back from Tuesday through Thursday, followed by a Saturday game at Houston. Dallas (22-48) is the first guest, followed by Indiana (41-30) and the Lakers (31-39). The Rockets are 56-14, guaranteed to still have the NBA’s best record Saturday when they host the Pelicans at Toyota Center.
2) Tickets for tonight’s Mavericks-Pelicans game, which tips off at 7 p.m. in the Smoothie King Center, are available here. The Pelicans enter Tuesday’s action in seventh place in the Western Conference, but that could easily change this evening. Sixth-place Utah (40-30, owns tiebreaker on NOLA) and eighth-place Minnesota (40-31) are both in action. In addition, the ninth-place Clippers (37-32) play, visiting the Timberwolves.
3) New Orleans is eighth on NBA.com’s weekly power rankings. The Pelicans are also No. 11 on SI.com’s poll, while 12th on ESPN.com’s list. ESPN wrote, “The Pelicans are in the middle of something that has never happened in NBA history. After hosting the Rockets and Celtics this past Saturday and Sunday at Smoothie King Center, the Pelicans will host the Mavericks on Tuesday, Pacers (in a makeup game) on Wednesday and Lakers on Thursday. According to Elias Sports Bureau research, the Pelicans will become the first team in NBA history to play five games in the same arena within a span of six days.”
4) Read more about Anthony Davis’ surge into the MVP conversation.
5) The team released a medical update on rookie Frank Jackson yesterday.