Pelicans @ Kings

Who will WIN this matchup?

New Orleans Pelicans (15-18)

@ Sacramento Kings (17-15)

Current odds:

New Orleans Pelicans: (-125)

Sacramento Kings: (+105)

• The line for this game is Pelicans by 1.5 points.

• The last time the New Orleans Pelicans met the Sacramento Kings they were in the midst of a 4-0 start and putting up points at a record pace. A very different Pelicans team struggling through a 5-11 stretch enters Sacramento for a rematch with the up-and-coming Kings. New Orleans scored a franchise-record 149 points in a 20-point win over the Kings on Oct. 19, but it is now sinking toward the bottom of the Western Conference and lost its third straight Friday night at Los Angeles with a 112-104 setback against the Lakers.

• The Kings fell to 0-2 after the first encounter with the Pelicans but rebounded soon thereafter and have won seven of their last 10, including Friday’s 102-99 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies. Sacramento is 1-1 thus far in a stretch in which it plays 11 of 14 at home.

• Anthony Davis had 30 points and 20 rebounds in Friday’s loss to the Lakers and is averaging 33.8 points and 13.6 boards over his last five games. His teammates combined to shoot 40.5 percent from the field and make just three of their eight free throws as New Orleans’ slide continued. “That’s right now,” Davis told reporters when asked if the team would soon feel some urgency in the Western Conference playoff race. “Any time you lose a game, you can drop three or four spots. We’ve got to get this thing turned around.”

• Buddy Hield is on a roll for Sacramento and pushed his scoring average over 20 points per game with 28 in the win over the Grizzlies. “He’s a scorer and at some point in every game a scorer’s going to get on a roll,” teammate De’Aaron Fox told reporters of Hield, who is averaging 28.2 points over the last five games. “It’s bound to happen. There’s a lot of guys in the league that can really do that, and he’s the guy on our team that really does that well.” Fox had 14 points, eight assists and a career-high five steals in the Kings’ second-best defensive effort of the season Friday night.

• Pelicans PF Nikola Mirotic, who scored a career-high 36 points in the win over Sacramento earlier this season, has missed four straight games with an ankle injury.

• Kings PF Marvin Bagley III has missed four games in a row due to a knee issue.

• New Orleans SG E’Twaun Moore is 13-for-47 from the floor over his last five contests.