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The New Orleans Pelicans are hosting the Portland Trail Blazers tonight inside the Smoothie King Center and both teams will be on the second night of a back-to-back.
While the Pelicans had no issues flying into New Orleans after last night’s victory over the Grizzlies, the Trail Blazers had no such luck, getting stuck in OKC an extra night.
Our flight from OKC to New Orleans, originally scheduled to depart following last night’s game, was postponed due to inclement weather. The team is now scheduled to depart OKC later this afternoon & go directly to the Smoothie King Arena upon arrival for tonight’s game.
— Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) February 17, 2021
While some might read this news and think Portland is ripe for a letdown, don’t count on it. Stan Van Gundy told pregame media that he remembers two such instances of traveling and then playing a regular season game on the same day. His Orlando Magic won both of those contests.
For more on tonight’s matchup, please give our preview a read where we took a quick look at just how dominant Zion Williamson has been here in the month of February.
Who: New Orleans Pelicans (12-15) vs Portland Trail Blazers (17-10)
When: February 17, 8:00 p.m. Central
Where to watch: Fox Sports New Orleans
Where to listen: ESPN 100.3 FM
For more Pelicans talk, subscribe to The Bird Calls podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts. You can follow this author on Twitter at @OlehKosel.