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The New Orleans Pelicans and Phoenix Suns did their jobs on Friday night, beating the Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings, respectively. The Pelicans held on for the win over the Warriors to remain at the No. 6 spot. The Suns, on the other hand, had to come back from a 16-point deficit to beat the Kings.
New Orleans (49-32) has a one-game lead over Phoenix (48-33) in the Western Conference standings. The Suns still have a chance at finishing above the Pelicans heading into the final day of the regular season.
Phoenix needs to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves to have at least a chance at jumping over New Orleans. The Pelicans will have to lose against the LA Lakers for them to fall to the No. 7 seed and be in the 2024 NBA Play-In Tournament.
New Orleans vs. LA Lakers head-to-head
The New Orleans Pelicans and the LA Lakers are facing off against each other on the final day of the regular season. It's a must-win game for both teams, with the Pelicans looking to lock up the No. 6 seed and the Lakers trying to finish as the No. 8.
Sunday's game will be the fourth and final matchup of the season between the Pelicans and Lakers. The Lakers dominated the two games held at Crypto.com Arena, getting the 133-89 win on Dec. 7 and the 139-122 victory on Feb. 9.
The Pelicans did get one back on Dec. 31 with a 129-109 win at the Smoothie King Center. With the game being held in New Orleans on Sunday, the Pelicans have a strong chance or at least have the home-court advantage.
They are still missing Brandon Ingram, who is still recovering from a minor knee injury. If it helps, the Lakers had a tough time beating the short-handed Memphis Grizzlies who were missing 13 players due to injury on Friday.
Phoenix Suns vs. Minnesota Timberwolves head-to-head
Just like the Pelicans-Lakers matchup, Sunday's regular season finale is a must-win game for both the Phoenix Suns and Minnesota Timberwolves. The Suns want to have a shot at finishing at the No. 6 spot, while the Timberwolves are looking to top the West.
The game will be held at the Target Center, so the Timberwolves have the homecourt advantage. However, the Suns are 2-0 against Minnesota this season, so they have proven that they can beat the formidable Timberwolves.
Both wins happened at the Footprint Center, so there's a whole different dynamic. Nevertheless, the Suns beat Minnesota 133-115 on Nov. 15 and 97-87 on April 5.
