The Oklahoma City Thunder have won six of their last seven games, while the New Orleans Pelicans have secured just five victories all season.
Nevertheless, both teams are entering their matchup on Saturday night in New Orleans with a positive outlook, albeit for different reasons.
The Western Conference-leading Thunder cruised to a 129-92 road victory against Toronto on Thursday, the same night that the Pelicans ended a nine-game losing streak with a 126-124 home win against Phoenix.
Oklahoma City isn’t likely to overlook New Orleans any more than it did the Raptors, one of the worst teams in the East, or the Utah Jazz. The Jazz, who are close to the Pelicans in the standings for the worst record in the West, were defeated by the Thunder 133-106 on Tuesday.
The Thunder led the Raptors by 22 points early in the second quarter and by 34 at the end of the third quarter.
In their first meeting this season on Nov. 13, the Thunder defeated the Pelicans 106-88 in Oklahoma City. The Pelicans were missing four starters and two other rotation players for that game, but they are much healthier now.
Guards CJ McCollum and Dejounte Murray missed the first meeting but have since returned. The Pelicans received a boost on Thursday against the Suns when leading scorer Brandon Ingram (calf) returned from a five-game absence, and Herbert Jones (shoulder), the team’s best perimeter defender, returned from an 18-game absence. The result was just the Pelicans’ second victory in 17 games.
Ingram scored 21 of his 29 points in a game-changing third quarter where New Orleans posted 45 points, their season high for any quarter. McCollum added 13 points and three assists in the fourth quarter, and Jones blocked Devin Booker’s three-pointer as time expired.
