Tonight the Los Angeles Clippers (15-5) will play the second game of a challenging back-to-back travel-wise, having visited Cleveland in an 8 p.m. local time tip-off Thursday, due to the matchup being televised nationally by TNT. The Clippers are also on the final stop of a brutal six-game, 10-day road trip that began in Dallas, headed north to Detroit and Indiana, swung east to Brooklyn, then made yesterday’s stop in Cleveland before coming to the Crescent City. According to Clippers.com writer Rowan Kavner, the team did not arrive at its downtown hotel here until 2:35 a.m.
Conversely, the New Orleans Pelicans (7-12) have been home all week and haven’t played since Tuesday, a rare quiet stretch of schedule.