The Portland Trail Blazers and New Orleans Pelicans are getting very familiar with one another during the first two weeks of the season.
After splitting two games in Portland on the first weekend of the season, the Trail Blazers and Pelicans will meet for a third time Monday night in New Orleans.
Both teams have struggled in the early going.
The Blazers hope to be refreshed after a difficult set of back-to-back losses. They dropped a 137-114 decision to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday and a 103-97 setback to the Phoenix Suns on Sunday.
The short-handed Pelicans will complete a back-to-back of their own after a 126-111 loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday night.
Pelicans second-leading scorer Zion Williamson (hamstring) missed the game against the Hawks, joining four other key players on the sideline. Leading scorer Brandon Ingram had 32 points, making 12 of 19 field-goal attempts.
Coach Willie Green has encouraged Ingram to shoot more 3-pointers, and the latter was 4 of 8 from beyond the arc on Sunday.
“I love that he’s staying with it,” Green said. “It’s going to make his life easy. When he can knock down threes, it’s going to open up the paint, and it opens up his ability to get to the free-throw line. He’s still going to take his mid-range shots. It’s something he does at an efficient level.”
New Orleans had a one-point lead at halftime but got outscored 68-52 in the second half. Jordan Hawkins, who scored 19 points, cited the Pelicans’ 18 turnovers — six of which came in the fourth quarter — as a primary reason for them losing touch in the second half.
“The turnovers we had just ran out that lead, and they made a big run at the end of the third quarter,” Hawkins said.
Portland was outscored in the third quarter of both of its last two games. The Blazers were tied with the Thunder at halftime before being outscored 38-17 in the third quarter. Portland led the Suns by four at halftime before falling behind by 22 entering the fourth quarter and rallying within two in the final two minutes.
“I just thought we laid it on the line and did what we needed to do,” Blazers coach Chauncey Billups said of the comeback. “Another tough third quarter for us, but man, we came out and really got ourselves back in the game.”
Billups was encouraged that the Blazers fought back against the Suns after failing to do so against the Thunder.
“We never caved in,” he said. “I’m proud of our guys for just hanging in. We were on the second half of a tough back-to-back … We got hit with a big blow in that third quarter and just kind of stuck together. This is what you want. You want the guys to stick together and just chip away.”
The Pelicans won their first meeting against the Blazers 105-103 on Oct. 25 before the Blazers responded with a 125-103 decision two nights later.
After Monday night, the teams won’t see each other again until Jan. 8 in New Orleans.
