A look at three key numbers related to Friday’s game at AmericanAirlines Arena between New Orleans and Miami (11 a.m. Central, ESPN, Fox Sports New Orleans, 100.3 FM):
12-3: Dating back to last season, New Orleans record in its last 15 games against Eastern Conference opponents, including Wednesday’s 113-99 victory over Toronto. Since a rough start vs. the East to open 2019-20, the Pelicans have been near dominant in interconference competition, with the only losses during that span coming vs. Boston (reached 2020 conference finals), Milwaukee (NBA’s best record last season) and Orlando (in a nonconsequential bubble finale). Producing positive results vs. the East is even more important than usual during this unconventional 72-game season, because a larger percentage of each team’s schedule comes against the opposite half of the league (30 non-conference games). Starting with Friday’s meeting with the Heat, the Pelicans will play four of their next eight games against the East, but that’s followed by a West-only, seven-game road trip.
53-43: New Orleans edge over Toronto in shooting percentage from the field during Wednesday’s game at Amalie Arena. The Pelicans enjoyed a very efficient offensive night, highlighted by their starters combining to make 31 of 55 shots (56 percent). Every first-stringer made at least half of their attempts other than Lonzo Ball, but Ball was 4/8 from three-point range. Ball was one of four different New Orleans players to connect at least three times on treys, a group led by JJ Redick’s 6/11 night. Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Ingram were 4/8 and 3/6, respectively. Miami is also coming off a very good shooting performance, at 51 percent vs. Orlando. Heat starters were 29/57 in Amway Arena.
1-3: Combined record (through one regular season game apiece) of the four teams that advanced the deepest in the 2020 NBA playoffs – and therefore had the shortest offseasons. The pair of NBA finalists, the Lakers and Miami, lost opening games to the Clippers and Orlando, respectively, while Denver was beaten at the overtime buzzer by a Sacramento tip-in from Buddy Hield. The only winner among the group was Boston, which edged Milwaukee at TD Garden by one point. Miami took a fourth-quarter lead into its Wednesday game against the host Magic, but was outscored 34-24 in the final 12 minutes.
Pelicans Keys To Victory
SCHEDULE AN EARLY WAKE-UP CALL
NBA teams aren’t accustomed to playing games as early as noon local time, so some morning coffee may be in order to get ready for tip-off. Incidentally, the Pelicans and Heat also played a 12 p.m. Eastern game on Dec. 25, 2015, and often looked sluggish (regulation ended in a tie at 78; Miami won 94-88 in overtime). Every member of that New Orleans 2015-16 squad is now retired or on another NBA roster, but two Miami players who appeared in that game five years ago are still playing for the Heat (Goran Dragic and Udonis Haslem). A Miami reserve guard who logged 13 minutes that afternoon, Beno Udrih is now a New Orleans player development coach.
PROTECT THE BALL LIKE IT’S A GIFT FROM SANTA
New Orleans somehow defeated an accomplished Toronto team Wednesday by 14 points despite coughing up 27 turnovers, but the Pelicans definitely don’t want to repeat that statistic against an aggressive Heat defense (or vs. any opponent, for that matter). The Pels also need to shoot much better at the foul line than their 10/20 outing against the Raptors.
KEEP ATTACKING THE BACKBOARDS
The Pelicans won the rebounding battle 45-35 vs. Toronto on Wednesday, led by a combined 27 boards by their starting frontcourt. Zion Williamson and Steven Adams totaled six offensive rebounds. Miami center Bam Adebayo is coming off an 11-rebound game against Orlando.
