Grizzlies-Pelicans Preview

Two days after taking advantage of the worst team in the NBA to get a win, the New Orleans Pelicans will try to do the same against another struggling team Monday night.

The Pelicans gained a split of a two-game road trip when they handed the Cleveland Cavaliers their ninth consecutive loss, 133-98 on Saturday night. It was New Orleans ' largest margin of victory this season.

Now the Pelicans host the Memphis Grizzlies, who lost their fifth game in a row when they fell at San Antonio 108-88 on Saturday.

"This can't just be a win and a one-time thing because it's Cleveland," forward Anthony Davis told the Pelicans' official website. "We've got to do this next game and the game after that in order to get to where we want to be."

Coach Alvin Gentry echoed Davis' feeling, emphasizing that New Orleans, 18-22 and 14th in the Western Conference, is going to have to make a run regardless of the quality of the opposition in order to get back into the thick of the playoff race.

The key to that will be building on the defensive improvement the Pelicans showed three days after a 126-121 loss at Brooklyn.

"What we have to do is develop consistency on it," Gentry told the Pelicans website. "We can't do it this game and not do it the next game. We have to be able to take it from practice to the game situations and we have to be able to do it night after night after night, not just one night here and one night there."

Memphis needs to get back on track for one night before it can start thinking about stringing together a series of wins.

The Grizzlies are 3-12 since beating the Pelicans 107-103 in New Orleans on Dec. 7, the first meeting between the teams this season. The Grizzlies held the Pelicans without a field goal for the final five minutes of that game.

Against San Antonio on Saturday, Memphis had its worst shooting first half of the season (31.1 percent) as it trailed 64-44 at halftime and shot just 37.8 percent for the game.

The Grizzlies, who entered the game ranked fifth in the NBA in fewest turnovers per game (12.8), committed a season-high 21, leading to 26 San Antonio points.

"When you're playing a team that is this good, any time you lose or miss out on possessions with opportunities for shots, it's hard to overcome," Grizzlies coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. "For us, we're not a normally a high-turnover team, but they were active with their hands."

Memphis made a move to try and shake the team out of its funk when it acquired guard Justin Holiday, brother of Pelicans guard Jrue Holiday, in a trade with Chicago on Thursday.

The Grizzlies sent Wayne Selden, MarShon Brooks and two second-round picks to the Bulls for Holiday, a five-year veteran averaging 11.3 points this season. Holiday made his Memphis debut Saturday and had just two points in 21 minutes, but he figures to be a bigger factor going forward.

"(Holiday is a) hard worker, plays defense, two-way player," Grizzlies guard Mike Conley told the Commercial Appeal. "He's gotten better offensively as well. So he definitely fits the mold of what we're trying to accomplish here, especially with his character and all those things."