by Thomas Quaynor for Wannamakeabet.com
The New Orleans Pelicans (22-45) visit the Houston Rockets (40-25) tonight at Toyota Center. This is the third of four meetings between the teams. They split the first two matchups with New Orleans picking up a 133-128 overtime win at home on Dec. 18, and Houston winning 119-110 at home on Jan. 18. The teams will meet for a final time on March 29 in New Orleans. The Rockets have won five of the last six against the Pelicans dating back to December 2024.
Houston is a 7-point favorite and the total is 229.5.
WHAT BOTH TEAMS DID IN THEIR PREVIOUS GAME
New Orleans defeated the Toronto Raptors 122-111 at home on Wednesday night. After leading by only two points (60-58) at the half, the Pelicans built an 18-point lead (78-60) towards the end of the third quarter. Toronto pulled to within 95-93 early in the fourth quarter, but an 8-0 Pelicans run thwarted Toronto’s comeback attempt. The Pelicans were never challenged for the rest of the game.
Trey Murphy III scored a game-high 28 points (8-12 FG, 5-8 3Pt, 7-8 FT) and added 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals across 34 minutes in the win. Dejounte Murray tallied 27 points (12-20 FG, 2-6 3Pt, 1-2 FT), 6 assists, 5 rebounds and 2 steals, while Zion Willamson registered 19 points (7-12 FG, 5-8 FT), 6 rebounds, 4 assists and a steal for New Orleans.
New Orleans has won 3 of their last 4, and 7 of their last 10 games. The Pelicans have played well since Dejounte Murray returned from a torn right Achilles on Feb. 24. The injury sidelined him for over a year.
Houston suffered a humiliating 129-93 loss at Denver on Wednesday night. Denver led by just 6 (53-47) at the half, but broke open the game in the third quarter outscoring Houston 40-22 and led 93-69 heading into the fourth quarter. The 36-point loss was Houston’s most lopsided defeat of the season.
The Rockets shot a putrid 4-for-33 (12%) from long distance in the loss to Denver. Amen Thompson scored a team-high 16 points (8-14 FG) across 30 minutes in the loss. Kevin Durant finished with 11 points (5-8 FG, 1-1 FT), 5 assists and 4 rebounds in 26 minutes. Durant’s eight field goal attempts were his fewest of the season.
NEW ORLEANS PELICANS DILEMNA?
The Pelicans are in an interesting situation as they have one of the worst records in the NBA but do not own their first-round pick. New Orleans traded their 2026 first-round pick to Atlanta so they could draft Derik Queen with Atlanta’s 13th overall pick in last year’s draft.
Since the Pelicans have no incentive to tank games, they will likely start their best lineups every night in order to win because losing games only helps the Atlanta Hawks. New Orleans’ current 7-3 stretch has moved them out of a top-5 position in the draft. You have to wonder if New Orleans would be sitting guys like Trey Murphy III, Zion Williamson, and Dejounte Murray if they owned their first-round pick?
GAME STORYLINES: NEW ORLEANS
In May 2019, the New Orleans Pelicans won the draft lottery — despite having just a 6 percent chance of winning — which put them in position to draft everyone’s unanimous No. 1 overall pick Zion Williamson. The uber-athletic Williamson was one of the most ballyhooed prospects in NBA draft history due to his massive 6-foot-6 frame, highlight-reel dunks, and prolific low-post game. Many expected Williamson would become an MVP-caliber player while leading New Orleans to extraordinary heights.
Unfortunately, Zion Williamson’s 7-year NBA career with New Orleans has brought a lot of gloom instead of glory. Prior to this season, Williamson’s six years in the NBA were marred by a myriad of injuries, weight issues and off the court shenanigans that made him a constant target for negative coverage/attention from the masses. He missed the entire 2021-22 season due to a fractured foot.
After they finish well below .500 this season, New Orleans will only have two winning seasons — 42-40 in 2021-22 and 49-33 in 2022-23 — in Zion Williamson’s seven years with the team. They have yet to advance past the play-in round in the postseason during that span. A slight reason for optimism in the future is, when Zion Williamson played in a career-best 70 games during the 2022-23 season, New Orleans finished with a 49-33 record. It was their most wins since going 56-26 during the 2007-08 campaign. If Williamson can ever play a full allotment of regular season games, New Orleans can be a very good team.
The 2025-26 season is turning out to be a resurgence for Zion Williamson, who is just 25-years-old, and could be entering his prime. Williamson has been relatively healthy this season as he’s played in 50 of New Orleans’ 67 games. He’s averaging 21.4 points, 5.9 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1 steal per game on 58.7 percent shooting from the field. Williamson’s scoring is down slightly — his 21.4 ppg would be a career low — but his awe-inspiring athleticism and efficient low-post scoring remains despite the assortment of injuries.
In addition to Zion Williamson’s availability this season, the outstanding play of 25-year-old forward Trey Murphy III (22.1 ppg, 5.7 rebs, 1.6 stls, 3.3 threes, 47.6% from 2, 38.9% from 3 in 58 gms) and the return of former All-Star guard Dejounte Murray (17.6 ppg, 5.4 asts, 5.3 rebs, 1.9 stls, 1.3 threes, 50% from 2 in 7 gms) gives New Orleans a promising trio to build around. Murray returned to the Pelicans on Feb. 24 after tearing his right Achilles tendon on January 31, 2025.
New Orleans is 6-3 since Dejounte Murray returned to the lineup. They were a horrific 16-42 prior to his return.
The Pelicans are also getting tremendous contributions from a pair of rookies in guard Jeremiah Fears (13.1 ppg, 3.7 rebs, 1.1 stls, 1.1 threes in 67 gms) and power forward/center Derik Queen (11.7 ppg, 7 rebs, 1 stl, 48.4% from 2 in 66 gms). Fears (7th overall pick) from Oklahoma and Queen (13th overall pick) from Maryland were both selected in the lottery by the Pelicans.
New Orleans could be much-improved next season — and possibly the rest of this season — if Zion Williamson and Dejounte Murray can stay healthy. A healthy Williamson and Murray, along with a terrific core of young players could be the surprise team of the 2026-27 season.
GAME STORYLINES: HOUSTON
Last season, the Houston Rockets were one of the surprises of the NBA when they finished 52-30 and earned the No. 2 seed in the ultra-competitive Western Conference. The youthful Rockets were beaten by the seventh-seeded and playoff-tested Golden State Warriors in 7 games (4-3) in the first round. Despite the tough end to the season, the Rockets made tremendous strides in 2024-25 as they increased their win total by 11 games and registered their highest win total since the 2018-19 season.
The Rockets surprising turnaround last season was led by a young core of players in Jalen Green (23), Alperen Sengun (22), Amen Thompson (22) and Jabari Smith Jr. (21) along with a pair of terrific vets in Fred Van Vleet and Dillon Brooks.
The hiring of head coach Ime Udoka in April 2023 was also a key to Houston’s turnaround. Udoka was highly respected for coaching under first-ballot Hall of Fame coach Gregg Popovich for 7 seasons (2013-2019) and is considered the architect of the Boston Celtics team that has been amongst the NBA’s elite for the last 5 years.
Ime Udoka guided a young Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown-led Celtics team to the NBA Finals in his first year as head coach in 2021-22 before being forced to resign — due to an improper relationship with a female staff member — after 1 season at the helm. Like he did with Boston, Udoka’s coaching acumen improved the Rockets in an expeditious manner.
Despite the tremendous improvement last season, the Houston Rockets decided to make a big change to the roster when they traded for superstar Kevin Durant on June 22, 2025. The Rockets gave up Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks and multiple draft picks to acquire the 37-year-old, future Hall of Famer Durant. The Rockets then signed Durant to a two-year, $90 million dollar max extension in October.
Houston’s 2025-26 season got off to an ominous start when point guard Fred VanVleet tore his ACL during a workout in September 2025. He is likely to miss the entire season. VanVleet is not ruling out returning this season, possibly for the playoffs, but that seems like a longshot. The loss of VanVleet has been an issue this season as the Rockets lack of a true point guard has made them overly reliant on knocking down three-pointers.
The 2025-26 Houston Rockets have remained formidable this season — without its star point guard Fan VanVleet — with ageless superstar Kevin Durant (25.9 ppg, 5.5 rebs, 4.5 asts, 2.3 threes, 51.4% from 2, 40.5% from 3 in 62 gms) and emerging star center Alperen Sengun (20.2 ppg, 8.9 rebs, 6.1 asts, 1.2 stls, 1.1 blks, 50.3% from 2 in 58 gms) leading the team. Both players were selected as All-Stars. It was Durant’s 16th All-Star appearance and Sengun’s second.
THE PICK: PELICANS (+7)
New Orleans is now a completely different team with Dejounte Murray back and resembling his All-Star form. I think the Pelicans keep this one close against a Rockets team who might be licking their wounds after getting destroyed by 36 points in their previous game at Denver on Wednesday. Take the Points and the Pelicans tonight.