Today I’m the World’s Biggest New Orleans Pelicans Fan

The Dallas Mavericks play the Portland Trailblazers tonight, wrapping up the regular season at home. But I don’t really care about that game. The Mavericks are already locked in to the 7th seed. It doesn’t really matter.

No, tonight I’ll be the world’s biggest New Orleans Pelicans fan. And I suspect that I won’t be alone.

We won’t know who the Mavericks will play in the opening round until tonight, but what I do know is that I’d like them to avoid the San Antonio Spurs at all costs.

They can do that if the Pelicans beat San Antonio. I’ll let Chuck Cooperstein do the explaining:

With MEM loss things are clear. SA wins at NO they're 2nd. SA loses & HOU wins vs Utah, HOU 2nd. If both SA & HOU lose LAC 2nd w/win at PHX
— Chuck Cooperstein (@coopmavs) April 14, 2015

I don’t care if it’s Houston or the Clippers, though the Rockets would be my choice. All I desire is steering clear of the scorching hot Spurs.

Sure the Mavericks have played pretty well against San Antonio this season, and they don’t seem to have an answer for Monta Ellis. But the Spurs have won 11 games in a row, 14 of their last 15, and Kawhi Leonard frightens me as much as anyone in the western conference.

In their 11 game win streak Leonard has posted a defensive rating of 91, collected 2.6 steals, 19.2 points, and 6.1 rebounds. Oh, and he’s shot 56% from the field and 45% from three-point land. Holy smokes.

The good news is that Anthony Davis – who has posted some insane numbers against San Antonio this year – and the Pelicans have plenty for which to play. It’s pretty simple for them: win and they’re in (they can also get in with a Thunder loss to Minnesota). And they’re playing in front of their fans at the Smoothie King Center – my vote for coolest arena name in the league. You can read a full preview here.

Will the Spurs continue their utter domination? Will Anthony Davis lead his squad into the postseason with a big game and cement his season-long coming out party as one of the best players in the league? Only time will tell. But I’ll be rooting for the latter.

Next: 5 Under the Radar Free Agents the Mavericks Should Consider

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