Minnesota @ New Orleans preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 18, 2019 ) New Orleans 107, Minnesota 99

The New Orleans Pelicans are a much-improved team with Zion Williamson healthy and productive, but they still have things to learn in order to compete with the best teams in the league. Williamson and the Pelicans will try to continue that learning process and keep the pressure on teams in the race for a postseason spot when they host the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday.

Williamson scored a season-high 35 points on 12-of-16 shooting Sunday but couldn't quite pull New Orleans past the Western Conference-best Los Angeles Lakers in a 122-114 setback, leaving the team three games behind the eighth-place Memphis Grizzlies entering play on Monday. "I don't think we're that extremely far away from being able to compete at that level, but we've got a lot of young guys and we've got a lot of things we've got to learn," Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry told reporters after the setback. "To me, the No. 1 thing is you have to compete - and we did that tonight - and we've got to get better at some of the execution things to have a chance to beat that team." The Timberwolves are not ready to compete at that level and are in the middle of a rebuild that has seen them drop 20 of the last 22 games as staff tries to find some continuity with the rotation. Minnesota is without star center Karl-Anthony Towns (wrist) and is being led by a pair of guards - Malik Beasley and D'Angelo Russell - who arrived at the trade deadline from different places.

TIME: 8 p.m. ET. TV: FS North, FS New Orleans

ABOUT THE TIMBERWOLVES (17-42): Minnesota came out flat at home on Sunday and was rolled over in a 111-91 loss to the Dallas Mavericks, and the performance didn't sit well with Beasley. "It's a lot going on right now," Beasley, who scored 14 points on 5-of-15 shooting in the loss, told reporters. "I'm trying to just as a leader of this team, I have to make sure we come out compete, be ready for this game. Right now, I just got a lot on my mind. It's hard to pinpoint everything, but tomorrow after I watch film, I'll figure out what I need to do better as a leader, I can communicate better to you, but right now it's a lot of missing pieces." Russell was held to 16 points in the loss, his lowest scoring total in seven games with the team.

ABOUT THE PELICANS (26-34): The non-Zion members of New Orleans combined to shoot 35.4 percent in Sunday's loss, with All-Star Brandon Ingram enduring a 5-of-23 effort. "It's good for our team," Ingram told reporters of battling a team like the Lakers. "I think in the past we've seen a lot of young teams go through this and eventually become really good teams, especially the ones that stick together. So, it's important for us to go through this and keep learning and figure out how we can execute the best way." Ingram, who was 1-of-9 from 3-point range on Sunday, averaged 24.4 points on 51.3 percent shooting in February.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Timberwolves PF Juan Hernangomez recorded a double-double in each of the last two contests and owns three in nine games since joining the team.

2. Pelicans SG JJ Redick (hamstring) will be shut down for the next two weeks.

3. New Orleans took the first meeting 107-99 at Minnesota on Dec. 18 behind 34 points from Ingram.

PREDICTION: Pelicans 116, Timberwolves 102