Starting Monday, the New Orleans Pelicans start a five game road trip away from the Smoothie King Center in which four of the five teams made the playoffs last season. The other team, the Denver Nuggets, missed the playoffs by one game, but are expected to compete for a top seed this season.
In order for the Pelicans to have success coming up, they need to utilize their bench. In the first real action of the season for players like Frank Jackson, Cheick Diallo, and Jahlil Okafor, they were instrumental in cutting the Jazz 25 point lead down to 8 late in the fourth quarter.