Pelicans, Nets eager to halt pronounced slides

Two teams trending in the wrong direction will match up when the New Orleans Pelicans host the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday night.

The Pelicans have the worst record in the NBA and have lost 11 of their last 12 games. New Orleans squandered an 11-point lead Tuesday night in a 122-116 loss to the Denver Nuggets.

After a surge in December, the Nets have lost seven of their last eight games. They are last in the NBA in rebounds per game (40.1) and second-to-last in field-goal percentage (44.6).

"So the shots aren't necessarily going in or not. I don't really care. Gotta take good shots. Gotta shoot them with conviction," Nets coach Jordi Fernandez said after his team's fourth straight loss, 113-105 to the Dallas Mavericks on Monday.

"We got to create them with conviction, and then when you're in position, go and attack the glass because we have guys like Day'Day (Day'Ron Sharpe) and Mike (Michael Porter Jr.) and Nic (Claxton), Noah (Clowney), they can go fight for seconds, and that's a mentality we need to have."

Porter has been a big bright spot for the Nets and is one of the biggest names being talked about as the trade deadline approaches (Feb. 5). He leads Brooklyn with an average of 25.9 points a game is shooting 49.1% from the field.

Cam Thomas has played in only 15 games while dealing with various ailments, and rookie guard Drake Powell made his second start of the season against Dallas, finishing with 10 points.

Seventeen turnovers and poor shooting -- 24.3% from 3-point range -- hurt the Nets vs. the Mavericks.

"We kept fighting, which that's the team that I want to see, a team that doesn't stop fighting. What we learned from this game is the turnovers in transition and then the fast-break points," Fernandez said. "Some of those turnovers created fast-break points."

New Orleans trailed Denver by two in the final minute but missed two shots at the rim and gave up an easy dunk to the Nuggets with 10.8 seconds left to seal it.

"If we make shots down the stretch, it's a different story," the Pelicans' Saddiq Bey said, per NOLA.com. "There are no moral victories in this league. It's an unforgiving league. We have to figure it out. We'll figure it out."

New Orleans coach James Borrego said: "They made some tough shots; we had some good looks at the rim. We've got to keep working on our execution down the stretch."

Zion Williamson averages a team-best 22.3 points for the Pelicans. Trey Murphy III, who had 31 points vs. the Nuggets, contributes 21.9 points per game.

The Pelicans have received strong play from rookies Jeremiah Fears and Derik Queen. Fears is the only Pelican player to play in all 42 games and is fourth among rookies at 14.3 points a game, while Queen is sixth at 12.8.

This will be the second and final matchup of the season between the Nets and Pelicans. Brooklyn won 119-101 at home on Dec. 6.