New Orleans Pelicans: 3 storylines to watch against the Utah Jazz

The New Orleans Pelicans are looking to bounce back after two consecutive losses, but they face a stern test in the Utah Jazz to kick off March.

The Jazz are currently top of the western conference after overcoming a slow start to the season. Quin Snyder’s squad is currently 27-7, but they have been defeated in two of their last five games. Those losses came against the Los Angeles Clippers and the Miami Heat, both teams that are either much better or supposed to be vastly superior to the Pels.

However, Stan Van Gundy might find some encouragement in that five of the Jazz’s losses have come away from home. Could the Smoothie King Center host Utah’s sixth defeat of the season?

The New Orleans Pelicans will be trying to start March on a better note than they ended February. New Orleans lost two close games to the Milwaukee Bucks and San Antonio Spurs, respectively. Both of those games came down to less than five points. The Pels are currently eleventh in the west and need to start picking up some momentum if they are to make the playoffs.

But that change in fortunes might have to wait a little bit longer. The Jazz are a formidable team who have gradually crafted out real championship aspirations. As we saw in mid-January, they not a good match-up for the Pelicans.

The New Orleans Pelicans lost two games in a row to the Jazz back then and, although the Pels have tweaked a lot of things since said contests, they are still very much the underdogs.

Prior to game time, JJ Redick is listed as questionable with a hamstring injury. The Jazz will be without rookie Udoka Azubuike because of a severe ankle sprain, but they are unlikely to miss him. The former Kansas big man had mostly seen minutes with the Jazz’s development team and was likely only recalled to tend to the injury he suffered while in the G League bubble.

Here are three things to watch out for in Monday night’s game.