With the season at stake for both teams, New Orleans will host Sacramento on Friday at 8:30 p.m. Central in the Smoothie King Center (TNT, WRNO 99.5 FM, KGLA 105.7 FM) in a Western Conference play-in elimination game, attempting to continue its uncanny dominance over the Kings during the 2023-24 campaign. The Pelicans became the first team since the NBA became a 30-team league in 2004-05 to go 5-0 during a regular season against one opponent, needing few late-game heroics or fourth-quarter rallies while doing so. They posted victories by margins of 36, five, 10, 33 and 12 points. The Pelicans won a pair of November home games over the Kings by an average of 20.5 points, while prevailing in Golden 1 Center three times by an average of 18.3 points, including a 10-point victory in the In-Season Tournament quarterfinal round on Dec. 4.
Of course, both teams will field somewhat different rotations Friday in the Blender compared to the regular season – and four of New Orleans’ head-to-head wins took place more than three months ago. As of Wednesday morning, Zion Williamson’s status remained uncertain for Friday’s win-or-go-home game. He was a prominent part of the Pelicans’ season-series sweep, averaging 23.0 points and 5.8 assists over his four games, but New Orleans also beat Sacramento by 33 when he was sidelined in a Jan. 7 matchup in Northern California. In fact, the Pelicans flourished against the Kings under a wide range of circumstances rotation-wise, with only five players appearing in all five games (in order of minutes played vs. Sacramento, that group included Herb Jones, Jonas Valanciunas, Dyson Daniels, Naji Marshall and Cody Zeller). CJ McCollum was the team’s leading scorer in the season series at 26.0 ppg, but he was a DNP for both November victories due to a lung injury.
Meanwhile, Sacramento only had three players available in all five defeats vs. New Orleans (De’Aaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis, Harrison Barnes). The Kings’ fourth- and sixth-leading scorers against the Pelicans – Kevin Huerter and sixth-man catalyst Malik Monk – will not play in Friday’s play-in game due to injuries. In their place, youngsters such as Keon Ellis (starting in Huerter’s spot) and backup guard Davion Mitchell fill larger roles now than they did in most of the games vs. the Pelicans earlier in the season.
The winner of Friday's game will advance to the West playoffs and face top-seeded Oklahoma City in a Round 1 best-of-seven series. The opening game of that series will be Sunday night in the Sooner State.