The New Orleans Pelicans are doing well during regulation.
In overtime, not so much.
They will try to take care of business in four quarters when they visit the Indiana Pacers on Monday.
The Pelicans are 4-1 in games decided in regulation, but they’ve lost all three games that have gone into overtime, including a 124-121 loss at Atlanta on Saturday.
The loss to the Hawks came one night after a 114-105 home victory against the short-handed Golden State Warriors.
The loss to the Hawks completed a stretch of three games in four days, which began with a 120-117 overtime road loss against the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday.
The Lakers forced OT on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer and the Hawks forced overtime on a Dejounte Murray jumper with 4.1 seconds left after the Pelicans overcame a 13-point deficit with less than five minutes remaining.
The Pacers, meanwhile, needed a last-second defensive stop in order to avoid overtime or a loss when they held on to beat the visiting Miami Heat 101-99 on Friday.
It was Indiana’s best defensive performance of the season as it allowed season-lows in points and field-goal percentage (38.3). The Pacers forced 19 turnovers and held the Heat without a field goal for the final 5:35.
The exclamation point came when Pacers rookie Andrew Nembhard forced Tyler Herro to miss a 3-pointer on the final possession.
Indiana was short-handed in the backcourt. Aaron Nesmith was out because of a foot injury and Chris Duarte sprained his left ankle midway through the first quarter and didn’t return. Nesmith is questionable for Monday and Duarte reportedly will miss four to six weeks.
The absences forced Carlisle to play two and sometimes three point guards — Nembhard, T.J. McConnell and Tyrese Haliburton — at the same time.
