Denver @ New Orleans

Current Records: Denver 26-18; New Orleans 19-24

The New Orleans Pelicans and the Denver Nuggets are even-steven against one another since November of 2015 (9-9), but not for long. The Pelicans will take on Denver at 8 p.m. ET Friday at Smoothie King Center after having had a few days off. New Orleans is out to keep their three-game home win streak alive.

New Orleans strolled past the Los Angeles Lakers with points to spare on Tuesday, taking the contest 128-111. New Orleans relied on the efforts of small forward Brandon Ingram, who had 36 points, and power forward Zion Williamson, who had 27 points and five assists in addition to nine boards.

Meanwhile, Denver has to be aching after a bruising 135-111 loss to the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday. It was supposed to be a close matchup, and the Nuggets were supposed to come out on top, but neither of those things ended up happening. Despite the defeat, they had strong showings from center Nikola Jokic, who posted a double-double on 20 points and ten rebounds along with five dimes, and point guard Jamal Murray, who had 20 points and seven assists. That makes it six consecutive games in which Jokic has had at least ten rebounds.

New Orleans' win lifted them to 19-24 while Denver's defeat dropped them down to 26-18. Allowing an average of 115.09 points per game, the Pelicans haven't exactly asserted themselves on the defensive end. We'll see if they can patch up the holes in their defense before their upcoming game.

The Nuggets are a slight 2-point favorite against the Pelicans, according to the latest NBA odds.

The oddsmakers were right in line with the betting community on this one, as the game opened as a 2-point spread, and stayed right there.

Over/Under: -110

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New Orleans and Denver both have nine wins in their last 18 games.