Fresh off of the best performance of Anthony Davis’ young career, the Pelicans head to Washington DC to take on the Wizards. New Orleans got the best of Washington in the two team’s prior meeting this season, winning 107-105 at the Smoothie King Center. Of course, it also bears mentioning that the Pelicans rolled out a largely healthy squad with the exception of an ill Ryan Anderson for that game. In particular, they actually thrived going super small, as their guard-heavy lineup of Ish Smith, Holiday, Gordon, Evans, and Davis gave the Wizards real trouble. What isn’t surprising is how badly they played without AD on the floor, getting outscored by more than a point per minute in his ~9 minutes of rest:
While the Pelicans were +13 in Davis’ ~39 minutes, this Wizards team isn’t quite the same as the one that New Orleans faced off against back in December.