When New Orleans players walked into the inner bowl of the Smoothie King Center this morning for shootaround, all but three of them saw something for the very first time: The venue decorated by playoff T-shirts on every seat, prepped for the biggest NBA game in the Crescent City since 2015. The only members of the Pelicans who’ve experienced a postseason atmosphere here previously are Anthony Davis, Jrue Holiday and Emeka Okafor (the latter way back in ’11). They can’t wait to be part of it again.
“It’s great, to see all the red in here,” Davis said of the T-shirts that were placed on seats for fans.