The Los Angeles Clippers travel to The Big Easy to face the New Orleans Pelicans at Smoothie King Center on Saturday.

The Clippers (41-37) suffered an ugly defeat on Friday, getting blown out by the Memphis Grizzlies. They actually decided to rest Kawhi Leonard for the second half of that defeat, and there's some talk it was to have him ready for this back-to-back. It's important that he plays this game because Los Angeles is losing its grip on the play-in spots, sitting in fifth. The Clips are only 1.5 games up on the Pelicans, Lakers and T'Wolves behind them. That means anything can happen over this final week, and it'll be interesting to see how this team responds since Paul George is out for the remainder of the regular season as well. Russell Westbrook and Bones Hyland have been stepping up in his absence but avoiding the play-in would give PG13 some extra time to get ready for the postseason.

The Pelicans (39-38) are one of the most interesting teams in the NBA. They looked unstoppable when they started with a 23-13 record but proceeded to lose 25 of their next 35 games after that. What's funny is that they come into this matchup winning six of their last seven games. These massive swings are easy to understand because the rough stretch started when Zion Williamson got injured. The big man is expected to return shortly from his hamstring issue, and adding a player like that to a hot team is scary for the rest of the NBA. New Orleans has also climbed up to seventh in the west after this run but is only two games up on the Dallas Mavericks in 11th.

New Orleans has won both matchups with LA this season, winning both meetings by 21 points. They now have five wins in their last six matchups with the Clippers in total.