New Orleans Pelicans (12-36, 15th in the Western Conference) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (37-10, first in the Western Conference)Oklahoma City; Tuesday, 8 p.m. ESTBOTTOM LINE: Western Conference foes Oklahoma City and New Orleans square off on Tuesday.The Thunder are 28-6 against conference opponents. Oklahoma City ranks seventh in the Western Conference with 25.4 assists per game led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander averaging 6.2.The Pelicans are 6-25 in Western Conference play. New Orleans is 2-3 in games decided by less than 4 points.The Thunder are shooting 49.2% from the field this season, 0.8 percentage points higher than the 48.4% the Pelicans allow to opponents. The Pelicans average 6.9 more points per game (114.8) than the Thunder allow their opponents to score (107.9).The teams square off for the third time this season. The Thunder won 126-109 in the last matchup on Nov. 18. Chet Holmgren led the Thunder with 26 points, and Jeremiah Fears led the Pelicans with 24 points.TOP PERFORMERS: Holmgren is shooting 57.1% and averaging 17.8 points for the Thunder. Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 30.9 points over the last 10 games.Trey Murphy III is scoring 22.2 points per game with 6.0 rebounds and 3.7 …
