It just doens’t get any easier for the Pels. After a hard fought loss to the OKC Russell Westbrooks, the San Antonio Spurs roll into town riding a 6-game win streak.

The Spurs have no player averaging more than 4.3 assists per game, yet they are second in the league in assists. With their new additions of LaMarcus Aldridge and David West the Spurs offense is starting to find its groove, averaging almost 100.5 points a game over their 6 game win streak. Oh and their defense holds opponents to 91.3 points a game this season, best in the league. Kawhi Leonard is having a career season across the board, shooting 52.4% from the field for 21.4pts, 7.7reb, 1.7ast, 1.9stl, and 1.3blk in 33.4 minutes a game. He is the team’s leader despite all the veteran leaders around him.

The Pels are finding it hard to put anyone around their guys but doctors nowadays. Tyreke Evans, Quincy Pondexter, and Norris Cole remain out and Jrue Holiday remains on a minute restriction, but New Orleans could benefit from the return of Anthony Davis and Omer Asik tonight. Davis missed time with a shoulder injury, Asik with a stomach bug. They need all the help they can get as Wednesday’s loss to Oklahoma City knocked them down to 1-11, and the team’s playoff hopes are starting to fade only 2/3rds of the way through November.

If the Pelicans come out and compete as they did against OKC on Wednesday, they should at least have a shot at an upset. New Orleans battled hard and found themselves in a one score game late, despite having as many players in suits as players that suited up. They couldn’t quite pull out a win, but maybe Asik and Davis can tip the scale a little bit in tonight’s matchup should they both return.

Some Keys to the Game:

• Keep Competing! – Wednesday’s loss was one of the first games we saw a Pelicans team really fight for 48 minutes. They got down at times but found a way to stay in it and never put their heads down. That has to continue not just tonight, but for the rest of the season for this team to get where it wants to go.
• The Little Things – Turnovers and Rebounds. San Antonio is a very good rebounding team (5th in the league), but with a possible front court of Asik, Davis, and Ajinca the Pels (as one of the worst rebounding teams so far) need to go out there and show they can compete on the glass and not give up second possessions. Same with turnovers, no extra possessions for San Antonio.
• The 3 Point Shot – The first 8 games of the season the Pels were making 36.7% of their 3’s, making 10 a game. Their last 4 games they are only making 7 a game at 28.3%. A lot of that is Eric Gordon, who made just 8 out of 33, but Anderson is just 7 for 22 in those 4 games too. There are a lot of makable shots in there. It is hard to ask more from those guys as they have been caring the team thus far in the season, but if they can be just a little more efficient on those shots then the Pels have a shot.

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