Who: New Orleans Pelicans vs. Los Angeles Clippers
When: Saturday, Aug. 1, 6:00 p.m ET
How to watch: Fox Sports New Orleans, ESPN
Odds: Clippers -5, o/u 228.5
After losses from each side on the opening night of seeding games in the bubble on Thursday, the Clippers and Pelicans meet on Saturday evening again on national television.
On one end of the standings, the Clippers are looking to maintain their spot as the No. 2 seed. Los Angeles leads the Nuggets by just a game, the Jazz by two games and the Rockets by three. On the other end of the standings, the Pelicans were handed a bit of a lifeline in Portland’s win over Memphis, keeping them within striking distance of the playoffs.
Zion Williamson’s availability will obviously be the main question for the contest, not so much in whether he will be available but how much. In Thursday’s loss to the Jazz, he played just 15 minutes and each of those came in the open of quarters. Williamson isn’t expected to play many more minutes than that on Saturday as the team slowly ramps up his minutes.
In the previous three meetings, the Pelicans won the first before falling in each of the last two. The most recent game in mid-January saw New Orleans fall 133-130 despite a triple-double from Lonzo Ball.