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Pelicans make way for NBA All-Star in Smoothie King Center, embarking on four-game road trip

With NBA All-Star 2017 preparations already under way, the New Orleans Pelicans will vacate their home arena over the next seven days, embarking on a four-game Western Conference road trip. Whether or not there are NBA games of major significance in the Smoothie King Center beyond Feb. 19’s All-Star Game may depend greatly on how the Pelicans fare during this week-long excursion.

The beneficiary of a weakened conference in 2016-17, New Orleans (20-33) remains just 3.5 games behind eighth-place Denver (23-29), but the Pelicans are only 6-18 on the road this season. If that success rate in away games doesn’t improve dramatically, they’ll likely drop further in the standings, from a current technical tie for 12th with Minnesota.