While the Rockets have gotten healthier, with only Clint Capela still out with an injury, the Pelicans have gone in the other direction, with far more than just Anthony Davis absent.
"We basically have four of our five starters out and our sixth man," Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry said of Davis, Nikola Mirotic, E'twaun Moore, Julius Randle and Elfrid Payton. "That's challenging in itself. To me, when you approach anything from that perspective, the most important thing is; are we going to play hard and are we going to compete and are we going to play unselfishly?
"We've done that the last couple games.