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We’ve reached the semifinals of the inaugural in-season tournament, the NBA Cup, as a pair of teams from the Western Conference take the floor looking to punch their ticket to the championship game in the Silver State. The New Orleans Pelicans are on the road as they make the trip to take on the Los Angeles Lakers in Las Vegas Thursday night. New Orleans comes in off a 127-117 road win over Sacramento, winning outright as a 3.5-point underdog, Monday night. Los Angeles hung on for a 106-103 home win over Phoenix Tuesday night, covering the line as a 1.5-point favorite. In the all-time regular season series between the teams, the Lakers own a 44-27 advantage and have claimed the last two meetings. That includes a 123-108 road win in the most recent matchup on March 14, 2023.
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New Orleans rallied past Sacramento in their quarterfinal matchup to punch their ticket to the semifinals and look to down another Pacific Division team here. The Pelicans improved to 12-10 on the season and entered Wednesday second in the Southwest Division, half a game behind the Mavericks for the top spot. Against Sacramento, New Orleans trailed by 15 in the opening quarter before going on an 18-4 run to get the margin to one at the end of the stanza. The Pelicans opened the second quarter on an 8-1 run to go in front 43-37 and led the rest of the way, never letting the Kings closer than two. New Orleans shot 54% from the field, including 14 of 31 from three-point range, and limited Sacramento to 44.7% shooting in the game. Brandon Ingram led the Pelicans with 30 points, eight rebounds and six assists in the win.
On the season, the Pelicans are 13th in the league in scoring offense as they average 114.6 points per game on the season. New Orleans is 13th in rebounding by collecting 44.1 boards a night while the team ranks 11th in assists by dishing out 26.1 dimes a night. The Pelicans are 18th in the league in scoring defense as they allow 113.4 points per game so far this year. Brandon Ingram puts up 23.7 points plus 5.3 boards per contest this season while Zion Williamson adds 22.7 points plus 5.8 rebounds a night. CJ McCollum (20.7 points, 4.2 rebounds, six assists), Jonas Valanciunas (14.2 points, 9.1 rebounds) and Jordan Hawkins (12.9 points) are solid secondary scoring options. Herbert Jones (12.4 points), Najj Marshall, Matt Ryan (9.3 points), Dyson Daniels, Kira Lewis Jr., Trey Murphy, Jose Alvarado, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Larry Nance Jr. and Cody Zeller are key pieces in the Pelicans’ rotation. New Orleans is 8th in field goal percentage by shooting 48.1% from the field as a team this season. The Pelican s are 26th in the league in threes per game as they knock down 11 triples per contest and stand 18th in three-point shooting by hitting 35.7% percent from beyond the arc.
Ryan (calf) is expected to be out until mid-December while Nance Jr. (ribs) is slated to be out until mid-January.