New Orleans (42-30) have been unable to shake San Antonio as the teams occupy the fifth and sixth slots in the Western Conference, one-half game behind Oklahoma City for fourth and home-court advantage in the first round. The two teams are also three games ahead of ninth-place Denver with ten games remaining as the jostling for the bottom six spots continues nightly.
The Pelicans used a late 8-2 run to down Indiana 96-92 on Wednesday night, with Anthony Davis scoring the final six points in the spurt after E'Twaun Moore snapped an 87-all tie with 1:24 to play when he followed his own miss. Davis finished with 28 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks as New Orleans limited Indiana to 36.6 percent shooting.
Los Angeles (31-39) are trying to avoid their first four-game losing streak since a season-worst nine-game skid from December 22 to January 5. The Lakers have been idle since a 110-100 loss at Indiana on Monday night in which their starting frontcourt of Julius Randle, rookie Kyle Kuzma and Brook Lopez combined for 71 points, but the backcourt trio of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, rookie Lonzo Ball and Isaiah Thomas totaled just 27 on eight-of-28 shooting.
The Lakers have lost three straight on the road, giving up 117.3 points per game that span as opponents have shot 51.4 percent.