The New Orleans Pelicans (43-31) have eight more games left on the schedule, but Tuesday’s night matchup against the the Portland Trail Blazers (45-28) is undoubtedly one of the most important hurdles remaining.
Currently, the third-seed Blazers sit ahead of the Pelicans by two games in the loss column, but tacking on another defeat would make it one and New Orleans would own the tiebreaker. If the Pelicans want to keep legitimate hopes alive for home court advantage in the first round, they really need to beat the Blazers and the Thunder during their meetings this week.