The New Orleans Pelicans will travel to Oklahoma City on Thursday to take on the Thunder.

The Pelicans (22-26) have entered a dangerous stretch of their regular season, as not only have their lost three of their last four games and have dropped to four games under .500, but they will be without star player Anthony Davis for at least the next week due to a wrist injury. Davis' absence cost New Orleans in what was essentially a must-win game Wednesday at home against the Pistons, as the team struggled to get into any sort of offensive flow. Jrue Holiday did all he could to keep the Pelicans in the game with a team-high 29 points, but the team just didn't have enough scoring depth. A big reason for that was Nikola Mirotic leaving Wednesday's contest early due to a calf injury, and he should be considered questionable for Thursday's trip to Oklahoma City.

The Thunder (29-18) are trending in a much different direction than the Pelicans, having now won three games in a row after an impressive victory over the Trail Blazers on Tuesday. This comes after a rough stretch where Oklahoma City lost five out of six, but the team has managed to get back on track thanks to the stellar play of Paul George. After George failed to score more than 27 points in five of those six games, he has scored over 30 in each of the last three. George's re-emergence is part of what has been an recent offensive explosion for the Thunder, who were winning most of their games to start the season on the defensive end. In their last five games to end in regulation, Oklahoma City is averaging 123 points per game.