Utah @ New Orleans preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 13, 2020 ) New Orleans 0, Utah 0

Zion Williamson is back at practice after clearing quarantine, but the New Orleans Pelicans will have to wait to see if their star rookie will take the court in the team's restart. The Pelicans will face off against the Utah Jazz on Thursday in the NBA's first official game in the Orlando bubble after the league took over four months off due to the coronavirus.

New Orleans gets eight games to try to make up a 3 1/2-game gap on the Memphis Grizzlies for the final spot in the Western Conference playoffs and Williamson may not be available for the opener after leaving the bubble and going through a four-day quarantine upon his return, leaving him out of basketball shape. "It really isn't a tough decision, guys," Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry told reporters of Williamson. "If he's ready to play, he'll play. If he's not, we won't play him. You're not going to risk anything long term for something very, very short term. We'll see and evaluate tomorrow where he is. The medical people will and so will Zion. Zion will tell us how he feels. From there, we'll go and see and make decisions on what is best for him and what is best for our team." The NBA shut down in March after Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19 and guard Donovan Mitchell's positive test was revealed shortly thereafter, putting reported strain on the relationship between the two stars. "People didn’t have much to talk about for four months," Gobert told reporters. "Now that we’re back playing, I think it’s time to put it behind. I get asked about it every day. I can understand. But I hope there are some more interesting topics now."

TIME: 6:30 p.m. ET. TV: TNT, AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain, FS New Orleans

ABOUT THE JAZZ (41-23): Utah enters bubble play in the No. 4 spot in the West but is trying to find chemistry again after forward Bojan Bogdanovic, who ranks second on the team in scoring at an average of 20.2 points while shooting 41.4 percent from 3-point range, underwent wrist surgery during the time off that will keep him out the rest of the way. The Jazz are pushing more shots toward Joe Ingles (9.8 points) and Mike Conley (13.8) during bubble scrimmages and were pleased with the results. "It's great to see Joe come out really aggressive at the beginning of the game, Mike's taking his shot - they're all being as aggressive as we want," Jazz coach Quin Snyder told reporters after a win over Brooklyn on Monday. "For a team that can shoot it, that will open up a lot of other things - and it has."

ABOUT THE PELICANS (28-36): New Orleans is in Orlando to make a postseason push but intends to keep the long-term future of the team at the front of its thinking when making decisions about playing time. "Our goal is to make the playoffs, but we're not going to do anything ridiculous," Gentry told reporters. "We're not going to make crazy decisions based on trying to make a playoff run. We're going to do it the best way we possibly can. We're going to manage our team the best way we possibly can. We know that we have a bright future, so we won't risk anything based on that." Williamson averaged 23.6 points and 6.8 rebounds in 19 games after missing three months recovering from knee surgery and forms a potent scoring duo with 22-year-old All-Star forward Brandon Ingram (24.3 points).

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Jazz PG Jordan Clarkson (15.6 points) is the team's second-leading scorer behind Mitchell (24.2).

2. The Pelicans are searching for their second playoff berth in the last five seasons.

3. Utah took two of the first three meetings this season and scored at least 128 points in each contest.

PREDICTION: Jazz 125, Pelicans 114