A look at three key numbers related to Sunday’s game at State Farm Arena between New Orleans and Atlanta (5 p.m. Central, Bally Sports New Orleans, ESPN Radio New Orleans 100.3 FM):
9-1, 6-2: Atlanta home record, then New Orleans road record since Feb. 1. In more ways than one, something has to give in Sunday’s interconference matchup, because the Hawks have been one of the NBA’s elite home teams over the past several weeks, winning seven in a row on their home floor, nearly all against likely postseason-qualifying opponents. Meanwhile, New Orleans is in the midst of an excellent stretch of away performances, with one of those two recent defeats coming in overtime at Denver. Since Feb. 1, the Pelicans have won five road contests by double figures, beating Detroit, Houston, Phoenix, the Lakers and San Antonio by convincing margins. In addition, over the seven-week timeframe, Atlanta leads the NBA in home offensive efficiency, scoring 124.5 points per 100 possessions in Georgia, via NBA.com. New Orleans is third in road defensive efficiency, with a 107.9 defensive rating (behind only Boston and Miami). Atlanta All-Star guard Trae Young, listed as questionable to play Sunday due to a quad injury, has averaged a gaudy 37.3 points at home since Feb. 1 in nine appearances (he was a DNP on Friday vs. Memphis).
1: Time in Jaxson Hayes’ three-year NBA career that he’s scored 15-plus points in three consecutive games. The 21-year-old center-turned-starting power forward dropped in 16 points in only 28 minutes Friday at San Antonio, after he tallied 21 points vs. Houston and 16 against Phoenix in the Smoothie King Center earlier in the week. Over 182 pro games, the Texas product has a total of 21 games in which he’s registered 15 or more points, with eight of those occurring since Jan. 25 of this season (by comparison, he notched four such games during his rookie campaign, then six in 2020-21). On Friday, New Orleans outscored San Antonio by 36 points with Hayes on the floor, a career high for the Ohio native in plus-minus. As Pelicans head coach Willie Green put it after an all-over-the-floor, 16-point, eight-rebound, three-block outing by Hayes, “When he plays like that, it’s hard to stop him.”
9: New Orleans place in the Western Conference if it wins Sunday. The Lakers opened the door for New Orleans to take over the No. 9 spot in the standings by losing a double-digit lead and falling Saturday at Washington, dropping to 30-41 overall. The Pelicans have had ninth place within their reach a few times recently, but Sunday is their first opportunity to move ahead of the Lakers without needing any other help on the scoreboard. As recently as Feb. 5, Los Angeles was still five games ahead of New Orleans in the standings (26-28 vs. 20-32), but since then the Lakers have gone 4-13, while the Pelicans are 9-9, gaining 4.5 games. If New Orleans loses Sunday, it still will have a chance to overtake L.A. tomorrow, but would need to win at Charlotte, combined with the Lakers losing in Cleveland. The Lakers are in the midst of a very difficult stretch of schedule, with seven of their next nine games against teams sporting winning records (the only exceptions are March 27 and April 1 matchups with… the Pelicans).
PREVIOUS GAME STARTING LINEUPS
NEW ORLEANS (29-41, 10TH IN WEST)
Friday win at San Antonio
Devonte’ Graham, CJ McCollum, Herbert Jones, Jaxson Hayes, Jonas Valanciunas
Notes: This group is 1-1. Graham is questionable to play Sunday due to right hip soreness. Backup point guard Jose Alvarado is no longer listed on the team’s injury report, while Brandon Ingram (right hamstring soreness) remains out and will miss his seventh straight game. … New Orleans holds a lead of 2.5 games over both No. 11 San Antonio (27-44) and No. 12 Portland (26-43). The Trail Blazers play a 2:30 p.m. Sunday matinee at Indiana, while the Spurs are at Golden State at 7:30 p.m.
ATLANTA (35-35, 10TH IN EAST)
Friday win vs. Memphis
Delon Wright, Kevin Huerter, De’Andre Hunter, Danilo Gallinari, Clint Capela
Notes: This group is 1-0, Atlanta’s 23rd different starting lineup this season. … With Young out of action Friday, Wright made his seventh start of 2021-22. Atlanta is 32-32 when Young plays, 3-3 when he does not. … Athletic power forward and frequent Young pick-and-roll partner John Collins is out due to injury for Sunday’s game. The Hawks are 26-28 in Collins’ 54 games played this season. … Atlanta holds a five-game lead on Washington and New York for the East’s final play-in spot.
FANDUEL KEYS TO THE GAME
MATCH FRIDAY’S INTENSITY
New Orleans treated a key Friday game in San Antonio like its season depended on it, posting a wire-to-wire victory and overwhelming the Spurs in the AT&T Center. The Pelicans may not build a 31-point halftime lead or go up by 40 in the second half Sunday, but if they can bring the same kind of energy to the floor, positive things will result. Green described Friday’s effort as “A-plus-plus.”
BENCH BATTLE
As impressive as the Pelicans’ pounding of the Spurs was Friday, the Hawks also posted a commanding victory, beating Memphis by 15 points. The second units for both New Orleans and Atlanta played prominent roles in the outcomes two days ago, with Pelicans subs outscoring their Spurs counterparts 50-29; Hawks backups rang up 53 points vs. the Grizzlies.
MATCHUP TO WATCH
At center, it’s a meeting of international bigs who can dominate around the basket. Valanciunas (Lithuania) helped keep New Orleans in the game vs. Atlanta way back on Oct. 27, contributing 16 points and 15 rebounds in a 102-99 loss. Capela (Switzerland) was unusually quiet offensively that night, scoring five points to go with 12 boards. He’s only been held to five points or less five times this season in 62 appearances.
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