1) New Orleans bolstered their play-in standing Thursday night with a 127-94 win against the Portland Trail Blazers. This victory now puts them two games ahead of the San Antonio Spurs after the Spurs 127-121 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
2) Speaking of the play-in tournament, New Orleans (36-44) is assured of facing San Antonio (34-46) in the 9-10 matchup next Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. Central. What’s not settled yet is which team will host what will be an elimination game. Here’s the remaining daily schedule for the two teams going into the weekend (the Spurs own the tiebreaker, so a deadlock in the standings would put the 9-10 game in the AT&T Center):
Friday
No relevant games
Saturday
New Orleans at Memphis, 5 p.