New Orleans Pelicans schedule 2013: Big matchups against lower-tier playoff teams

The biggest games of the year will feature the Pelicans and some teams they’ll be fighting with to be one of the lower-tier Western Conference playoff squads. But the 2013-14 season will also include Evans and Holiday returning to play against the teams that drafted them.

Feb. 26 at Dallas -- The ESPN-televised game will pit two of the Western Conference’s most revamped rosters against one another. Both Dallas and New Orleans had a lot of roster turnover and added talented perimeter players -- the Pelicans’ Evans and the Mavs’ Monta Ellis -- as building blocks to chase the playoffs this season.

April 2 at Denver -- Two teams with guard-heavy lineups battle it out late in the year. Denver could be fighting for seeding or a playoff berth, and New Orleans would like to have closed the gap between the two squads in the last year. At the least, this one might be one of the more entertaining games between two interesting collections of talent.

The most difficult run for New Orleans comes in January. Over a nine-game stretch, the Pelicans play against Indiana, Miami, Washington, San Antonio, Houston, Golden State and Dallas twice. There’s a chance all nine of those contests are against playoff teams.

From Feb. 9 through March 4, the Pelicans play 10 games on the road including games against Brooklyn, New York and twice the Los Angeles Clippers. And it doesn’t help to end the regular season with two games each against the Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder.

After opening the year against the Indiana Pacers, the Pelicans have a relatively easy schedule through most of November. They play Orlando, Charlotte and Philadelphia once each and have the Suns and Jazz twice each. The toughest game during the stretch comes Nov. 6 against Memphis. New Orleans also gets two early-season games against the likely Kobe-less Lakers out of the way.

Back-to-backs: 19

Season opener: Oct. 30 at home vs. Pacers

Longest road trip: Five games (Dec. 15-23, Feb. 26-March 4)

Longest homestand: Six games (March 7-19)