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Pelicans, Jazz meet in Utah on Monday
By: Sam Chase - StatFox
Published: 3/27/2017  at  10:36:00 AM
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NEW ORLEANS PELICANS (30-42)

at UTAH JAZZ (44-29)

Tip-off: Monday, 10:35 p.m. ET
Line: N/A, Total: N/A

The Jazz are scrapping to hold onto their playoff seed, while the Pelicans are desperate just to get into the postseason.

The New Orleans Pelicans kept their playoff hopes alive on Sunday, thrashing the Nuggets 115-90 in Denver as underdogs (NO +7.5). The Pelicans are now 30-42 (35-35-2 ATS) after having won four of their last five games, which puts them 11th in the Western Conference standings. With nine regular season games to go, the Nuggets, Trail Blazers and Mavericks all stand between New Orleans and the eight seed, with Denver still holding a four-game cushion over the Pelicans. That makes virtually every game a must-win from here on out, starting Monday night with a road game in Utah. At 44-29 (30-39-4 ATS), the playoff-bound Jazz are coming off an ugly 108-95 loss on Saturday to the Clippers, the very team they’re fighting off for the West’s four seed and home-court advantage in a first round playoff series. Utah has lost four of its last five headed into Monday night, with all four of those defeats coming on the road. Over the last five seasons, home teams that have been beaten by at least 36 total points against the spread in their last five games (UTAH) are 85-134 ATS in games played in the second half of the year. New Orleans C DeMarcus Cousins sat out Sunday’s game with an ankle injury and is questionable for Monday night’s contest. For Utah, SF Gordon Hayward is questionable while PF Derrick Favors remains out.

The Pelicans’ trade for Cousins (22.5 PPG, 11.5 RPG, 3.4 APG, 1.6 SPG, 1.2 BPG in 13 games with New Orleans) a week before the trade deadline was one of the biggest stories of the NBA season to date, as many believed New Orleans got the feisty superstar at a bargain bin price. His actual fit on this New Orleans roster, however, has been shaky at best; with all the usual caveats about small sample sizes aside, they’re 5-8 with Cousins on the floor since the trade and 3-0 in games he’s had to sit. To be fair, most of those five wins have come more recently as he has started to gel with the team, including a win over Memphis last Tuesday in which he put up 41 points and 16 rebounds. As with all things the franchise does, the move to acquire Cousins was part of a larger effort to keep superstar PF Anthony Davis (27.8 PPG, 11.9 RPG, 1.2 SPG, 2.2 BPG) happy. He stepped up in Cousins’ absence against Denver, scoring 31 points and grabbing 15 boards in only 28 minutes on the floor. The third fiddle, if you will, on this team is PG Jrue Holiday (15.7 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 7.2 APG, 1.6 SPG), and he has seemed more comfortable on the court lately. He’s shooting 50% from the floor in his last two games with 16 total assists and only one turnover. PG Jordan Crawford (13.5 PPG) joined the team recently and has become a scoring machine for the bench unit. SF Solomon Hill (6.9 PPG) and PG Tim Frazier (7.5 PPG, 5.2 APG) round out the starting lineup.

With free agency looming, Hayward (21.8 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 3.5 APG, 1.0 SPG) has inarguably earned the label of “star” in his best season to date. He scores efficiently from all areas of the floor; he is ranked 10th among all NBA small forwards with a shooting percentage of 46.4%. His absence would significantly weaken the offense of a team that is already stronger on the defensive end of the floor. PG George Hill (16.9 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 4.1 APG, 1.0 SPG) was a disastrous -29 in the loss to the Clippers, but has had a generally great season and continues to be overlooked by pundits and fans alike. He has missed significant time with injury, however, and it’s imperative that he stays healthy as the playoffs approach. Arguably the team’s best player is C Rudy Gobert (13.7 PPG, 12.8 RPG, 2.6 BPG), who is one of the NBA’s most impactful low-post defenders. He checks off all the boxes for a dominant big man, ranking first in the league in blocks, fifth in rebounding and second in field goal percentage (65.7%). After those three, SF Joe Ingles (6.8 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 1.1 SPG) has been getting more minutes than anyone, and his 43.2% mark from long-range makes him someone defenders must pay attention to. Also on the wings are still-developing SG Rodney Hood (12.8 PPG, 3.5 RPG) and old man SF Joe Johnson (8.7 PPG, 3.1 RPG). PF Boris Diaw (4.5 PPG) joins Johnson as a veteran in the rotation, and C Jeff Withey (2.5 PPG) has seen a slight bump in minutes in the absence of Favors (9.6 PPG, 6.2 RPG).


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