The Denver Nuggets travel to The Big Easy to face the New Orleans Pelicans at Smoothie King Center on Friday.

The Nuggets (30-14) training room is more full than their bench right now and that has this franchise in a precarious position. In the 16-point loss to the Houston Rockets on Wednesday, Denver played without Jamal Murray, Gary Harris, Mason Plumlee, Paul Millsap and Michael Porter Jr. That would make up a decent starting-five and it has made this deep roster look extremely thin. The good news is that none of the injuries are expected to be long-term. All of these players are expected to return right around the All-Star break and that should make Denver a major threat in the second half. The major key is to hold on before then though because Denver dropped from second to fourth in that defeat on Wednesday and they could continue to fall if the injuries continue to bite like this.

The Pelicans (17-28) had the greatest player of all-time make his debut on Wednesday. While that's obviously not the case, fans can't stop talking about what Zion Williamson did in that debut. While he played just 19 minutes, Williamson went 4-of-4 from three-point range to finish with 22 points, seven rebounds and three assists. That's a heck of a line in just 19 minutes of action and if he plays like that from here on out, maybe he will be the best player in the league at some point. The thing that people aren't discussing is the fact that New Orleans lost that game to a San Antonio Spurs team who owns the eight-seed in the West. That's the mark that the Pelicans are aiming for and that could end up being a devastating defeat when looking back at the end of the year. In any case, this team looks revived with Williamson and Jrue Holiday back and fully healthy, making this one of the scariest teams in the NBA.

These clubs have played twice this season, with the Pelicans winning each game by a double-digit margin.