New Orleans Pelicans games that fans must watch in December

Sunday, December 29th, Houston Rockets @ New Orleans Pelicans

Playing the Houston Rockets hasn’t yielded good results for the Pelicans this season, but in their last game of the decade, the team will hope for a change of fortune.

The Houston Rockets are enjoying success in their Russell Westbrook–James Harden present, as the team sits at a comfortable 13-7, which is good enough for fifth in the West and holds the team at just 4.5 games out of first place.

Last time these two squads faced-off, Brandon Ingram posted 35 points, 15 rebounds, and 5 assists in an impressive break-out night, but the Pelicans ultimately couldn’t get the job done as they took a 123-126 loss in Houston.

Now playing host, the New Orleans Pelicans have a pretty good chance to quality win over the Houston Rockets to end their decade. The biggest factor is if Zion is on the floor for New Orleans.

If the Pelicans are close to full strength, this pretty terrible Houston defense will have a hard time accounting for all of the New Orleans birds flying around the court.

Can the New Orleans Pelicans defense find a way to slow down James Harden?

This will be a running question for any team he faces this season, as the MVP candidate has gone up yet another level, averaging 38.6 points per game and shooting a career-high 13.9 attempts from three per contest.

It’s also important to question this from the Pelicans’ end of things, as their defense continues to look lost against tons of teams in this league.

Does this team actually care about manning up a bit on defense or are they content to continue getting throttled?

Ranking 29th in opponent points per game, 25th in defensive rating, and allowing opponents to make 47.3% of shots (26th in the league), the New Orleans Pelicans have all sorts of questions to answers on that end of the floor.

James Harden is always going to be a test but after the MVP-caliber guard posted 60 in three quarters earlier this week, the terrible New Orleans Pelicans defense will have to rise to the challenge or expect to get destroyed.