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Jonas Valanciunas #17 of the New Orleans Pelicans high fives Brandon Ingram #14 during the first half of a playoff game at Phoenix in 2022.

Pelicans ride three-game winning streak into pivotal Western Conference road trip

The team’s one-time All-Star forward is now playing his best all-around basketball of the season, as evidenced by his first NBA triple-double in a Thursday victory over Charlotte. The club’s starting center is also performing at his highest level throughout the 2022-23 campaign, doing so at a very opportune time.

Seventh-year pro Brandon Ingram and 11-year NBA veteran Jonas Valanciunas have been very productive players since coming to the league – and to an even greater degree during their New Orleans tenures – but recent upticks from the pair of frontcourt starters have catalyzed a crucial three-game Pelicans winning streak (Ingram went for 30-11-10 Thursday; Valanciunas is averaging 20.0 points and 15.3 rebounds). Victories over Houston, San Antonio and Charlotte have moved New Orleans from 12th in the Western Conference standings to No. 10, putting it in the final play-in tournament spot (at least for now). The Pelicans have dealt with significant adversity throughout the season, including lengthy injury absences from Ingram and Zion Williamson, a 10-game losing streak and major road struggles since Williamson was sidelined in January. The latter makes the next week one of the biggest challenges for the Pelicans of ’22-23: a four-game road trip, all against competitive West opponents. Here’s a closer look at what’s at stake on each stop of the excursion to the Pacific and Mountain time zones. Get ready for some late-night hoops if you’ll be tuning in from somewhere in the Gulf South region:

Pelicans Stat Leader Highlights: Brandon Ingram scores 30 points in first career triple-double | Pelicans vs Hornets

Saturday, March 25, at LA Clippers, 9:30 p.m.

LA’s star duo of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George gradually lifted the Clippers (39-35, 2.5 games ahead of New Orleans) into solid position to earn a top-six spot, with a chance for homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs, but George sustained a knee injury Tuesday that will sideline him for multiple weeks. LA bounced back from a loss that night vs. Oklahoma City by beating the Thunder in Thursday’s rematch.

Season series: Pelicans lead 1-0 (final meeting is April 1 at New Orleans).

Tiebreaker situation: Very simple. If New Orleans wins against LA at least once over the next two Saturdays, the Pelicans clinch it. Realistically, for New Orleans to ultimately surpass LA in the West, it probably needs to sweep both matchups.

Clippers next five games: After hosting the Pelicans on Saturday, there’s a Monday home game vs. Chicago, then what could be a monumental three-game road trip for LA (two games at Memphis, followed by the April 1 visit to the Crescent City).

Monday, March 27, at Portland, 9 p.m.

You know how every December there are NFL standings TV graphics that list teams as being “in the hunt”? Portland’s recent six-game losing streak often pushed the Trail Blazers below the cut-off line of similar NBA charts, stopping at whoever was in 12th place. Currently 13th, Portland (32-40) picked up a desperately-needed victory at Utah on Wednesday, but is still 3.5 games behind 10th-place New Orleans.

Season series: Pelicans lead 2-1 (final meeting is Monday).

Tiebreaker situation: New Orleans must win Monday to gain the tiebreaker. If Portland wins Monday, the Trail Blazers will claim it, already assured of a better conference record if they share the same overall mark with the Pelicans after 82 games.

Trail Blazers next five games: All in Moda Center, but given the opposition and present standings, Portland may need to win all of them to remain in the postseason chase. The Blazers host Chicago on Friday, then Oklahoma City on Sunday in the first game of a back-to-back. After the NOLA matchup Monday, Sacramento comes to Oregon for a two-game series.

Pelicans Stat Leader Highlights: Jonas Valanciunas scores 20 points vs. Charlotte Hornets

Tuesday, March 28, at Golden State, 9 p.m.

This will be the first time in 2022-23 that New Orleans faces Golden State with the Warriors not playing on the second night of a back-to-back. Partly as a result of that scheduling oddity, the Pelicans have not played against Steph Curry this season and only faced Klay Thompson and Draymond Green once apiece. The Warriors (38-36) figure to be the full-strength version of themselves in this TNT national broadcast, particularly given how tenuous their hold on a top-six spot is right now.

Season series: Pelicans lead 2-1 (final meeting is Tuesday).

Tiebreaker situation: A New Orleans win will clinch it. If Tuesday is a loss, the Pelicans still have a potential edge, because they’re likely to finish with a better conference record than the Warriors if both teams wrap up the 82-game schedule with the same overall mark. The only way another step beyond West record would be needed is if Golden State loses Friday vs. Philadelphia (the Warriors’ final non-conference matchup) and New Orleans beats New York on April 7.

Warriors next five games: Given Golden State’s home/road splits, it’s outstanding news in San Francisco that the club’s next four games are all in Chase Center (Philadelphia, Minnesota, New Orleans, San Antonio). The Warriors (9-29 in away games) travel to Denver on April 2, but that’s only a one-game road trip.

Thursday, March 30, at Denver, 9 p.m.

Prior to a recent 3-5 stretch, it looked like the Nuggets might be able to cruise to the West’s No. 1 seed and homecourt advantage by late March, but now they need to hit the gas pedal again. Denver will still have seven total games remaining when this TNT-exclusive matchup tips off in Ball Arena. On paper, this is the most daunting stop of the entire trip for the Pelicans (12-24 road record), who will try to upset the Nuggets (30-6 home record, second-best in NBA).

Season series: Nuggets lead 2-1 (final meeting is Thursday).

Tiebreaker situation: Irrelevant. Mathematically, the only West teams that can still catch Denver (49-24) in the standings are Memphis (45-27) and Sacramento (43-29).

Nuggets next five games: Denver’s biggest impact on the final two-plus weeks of the West race might come from whether it beats a few clubs currently vying for a playoff or play-in spot, such as this game vs. New Orleans, playing at Phoenix (twice), or vs. Golden State (April 2).

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