San Antonio Spurs: The 5 most intriguing games on the schedule

April 15: Spurs vs. Pelicans

In the last game of the season, the San Antonio Spurs will host the New Orleans Pelicans. The Pelicans, who overhauled their roster in the Anthony Davis trade in June, have an enticing lineup of young talent and seasoned vets.

The final game of the season is always important if a team is contending for a playoff spot. Last year in the West, the fifth seed and the eighth seed were separated by two games. In years prior, eighth and ninth place were separated by only a game.

I can’t put this game further up because I am not Nostradamus. I don’t know exactly where both of these teams will be in the standings come April, but if I can guess, they will be hovering around the seventh to 11th spots.

This means that the final game of the season could have major playoff implications. The teams will have played each other twice already in the season, with all three games coming in the last month of the season.

That three-game series could dictate seedings in what is shaping up to be a characteristically tight Western Conference.

The Spurs and Pelicans will have an engrossing dynamic on the court as well, with a certain parallel. Both will have gritty and strong defensive backcourts with Dejounte Murray and Derrick White lining up against Lonzo Ball and Jrue Holiday.

Zion Williamson brings a bounce to the frontcourt that the Spurs don’t have, and it will be interesting to see how Gregg Popovich schemes around the Pelicans’ young talent.