The Portland Trail Blazers come into this contest with their goals clearer than they have been for months. Expect to see a heavy dose of Shaedon Sharpe again, and don’t be surprised if Damian Lillard and Jusuf Nurkic don’t suit up (they are listed as questionable as of this writing). Player development and looking ahead to the draft are the orders of the day.
The New Orleans Pelicans still have some work to do if they want to be playing in the post-season, but you’d be foolish to count them out at this point. Winners of their last four, the Pelicans find themselves in the a play-in spot in eighth at the moment, but they could wind up anywhere from out of the play-in to as high as fourth in the very tight West depending on what kind of run-in they can put together to close out the season.