Jrue Holiday’s postseason production is providing Pelicans All-Star Anthony Davis with a more comfortable margin for error – and has left Portland with precious little.

Holiday’s 54 points [url=http://www.greenbaypackersteamonline.com/blake-martinez-jersey]http://www.greenbaypackersteamonline.com/blake-martinez-jersey[/url] , 16 assists and slew of defensive successes in the first two games are big reasons why the sixth-seeded Pelicans hold a surprising 2-0 series lead over the third-seeded Trail Blazers as they prepare for Game 3 Thursday night in New Orleans.

”Playoff Jrue, I guess,” Davis quipped after Holiday scored 33 – including a late, deep 3-pointer – in the Pelicans’ Game 2 triumph in Portland on Tuesday night. ”He’s in a different mode.”

Philadelphia visits Miami in one of two other Game 3s on Thursday night, while the Spurs’ return to San Antonio after a pair of double-digit losses at defending champion Golden State.

Pelicans general manager Dell Demps bet big on Holiday on the first day of free agency last summer, giving the 27-year-old guard a five-year contract worth about $126 million. But if the postseason is where players really earn their money, then the Pelicans’ Holiday spending could very well be worth it.

Holiday helped preserve New Orleans’ Game 1 victory with a leaping steal in transition during the final minutes, followed by a block in the final seconds. Those plays were prime examples of why Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry has asserted Holiday is one of the best two-way players in the NBA.

”We ask him to guard the best perimeter player and we ask him to do it while we’re also wanting him to get 20 points,” Gentry said, noting that Holiday has had to take turns guarding both members of Portland’s prolific starting backcourt, guards Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum.

”He can get to the basket against just about anybody that there is. His outside shot has really improved,” Gentry added. ”He’s very confident in what he’s doing and the way he’s playing.”

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TRAIL BLAZERS AT PELICANS

New Orleans leads 2-0. Game 3, 9 P.M., NBA TV.

NEED TO KNOW: The Pelicans were no better at home (24-17) during the regular season than on the road (24-17), which gives Portland hope. ”We’ve won on their floor before and we feel like we’re capable of doing the same thing they did to us [url=http://www.indianapoliscoltsteamonline.com/adam-vinatieri-jersey]Adam Vinatieri Jersey[/url] ,” Portland’s Lillard said. However, the atmosphere could be different for New Orleans’ first home playoff game since 2015.

KEEP AN EYE ON: Pelicans guard Rajon Rondo , who had 17 assists in Game 1 and was one assist shy of a triple-double in Game 2.

INJURY UPDATE: Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic was limited to only 15 minutes in Game 2 because of a left leg contusion, while forward Evan Turner is questionable with a right toe contusion. Pelicans forward Nikola Mirotic twisted his right ankle late in Game 2. He has not been scratched, but his effectiveness remains to be seen.

PRESSURE IS ON: Portland guards Lillard and McCollum, who have been inconsistent in the series and will be desperate to prevent the Blazers from falling into a 0-3 hole. ”We don’t want to be in this position … but it should be fun and we should accept that challenge,” Lillard said. ”If not, it could be a quick series.”

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76ERS AT HEAT

Series tied 1-1. Game 3, 7 p.m., TNT.

NEED TO KNOW: The 76ers say All-Star center Joel Embiid, who has missed 10 games with a broken orbital bone, is doubtful. The Heat ended Philadelphia’s franchise-record 17-game winning streak Monday, winning with physical defense. To further ratchet up tension, some 76ers were miffed by Miami’s Goran Dragic’s late layup to pad the Heat’s 113-103 victory.

KEEP AN EYE ON: The 76ers’ shooting and the Heat’s Dwyane Wade. Philadelphia shot 18 for 28 from 3-point range in Game 1, but just 7 for 36 in Game 2. Wade had 28 points in 26 minutes in Game 2 [url=http://www.chicagobearsteamonline.com/kendall-wright-jersey]http://www.chicagobearsteamonline.com/kendall-wright-jersey[/url] , but at age 36, there’s no guarantee he’ll consistently summon that sort of performance. ”I’m not worried about encores,” Wade said. ”Right now it’s just about being a leader and giving this team what they need on different nights.”

INJURY UPDATE: Embiid practiced Tuesday and Wednesday, but regaining his rhythm on offense could take longer, coach Brett Brown said. After Monday’s loss, Embiid lobbied to get back in the lineup, writing on Instagram that he was ”sick and tired of being babied.” The return of the 76ers’ leading scorer and rebounder would mark a renewal of his rivalry with Miami’s Hassan Whiteside. They’ve feuded on social media this season.

PRESSURE IS ON: Heat president Pat Riley always says a playoff series doesn’t really begin until the road team wins a game. As of Monday, this series has begun, with Miami putting the heat on the Sixers, who are in the postseason for the first time since 2012.

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WARRIORS AT SPURS

Golden State leads 2-0. Game 3, 9:30 p.m., TNT.

NEED TO KNOW: San Antonio is 30-8 at home this season, but coach Gregg Popovich stressed playing on the road isn’t why the Spurs dropped the first two games. San Antonio is shooting 26 percent on 3-pointers in the series after averaging 35 percent during the regular season. San Antonio was 4 for 28 on 3s in Game 2. ”We know it’s just like hitting in baseball – the ability to make shots,” Popovich said. ”I’m more concerned about the nuts and bolts of the game and the attitude and the fiber and the grunt and all that sort of thing.”

KEEP AN EYE ON: The Warriors’ Klay Thompson. The 6-foot-7 guard is leading Golden State in play

The San Antonio Spurs are not going to win 50 games this season, nor have they been able to produce the game-to-game dominance in 2017-18 that has been commonplace during a two-decade run of NBA excellence.

But the Spurs still have a chance to make the playoffs for the 21st consecutive year. That goal [url=http://www.buffalobillsteamonline.com/adolphus-washington-jersey]Adolphus Washington Jersey[/url] , no, accomplishment, can be reached with a win in one of their final two games, the first of which is Monday against the Sacramento Kings at the AT&T Center in San Antonio.

The Spurs (46-34) took another step toward the postseason with a 116-105 win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday behind 28 points from LaMarcus Aldridge and 17 from ageless (actually, 40-year-old) guard Manu Ginobili.

Ten of Ginobili’s points came in the fourth quarter, including eight straight in a 49-second stretch midway through the quarter that pushed the Spurs’ advantage to 101-89 and allowed San Antonio to cruise down the stretch.

“I was just feeling good,” Ginobili said about the decisive sequence. “A couple of shots went in, and I was feeling that type of rush and that type of excitement. Flow, they call it. So I was trying to use it.”

Ginobili hit all seven of his shots in the win, three of which came from behind the 3-point line. He was 4 of 4 from the field and 2 of 2 from beyond the arc in the fourth quarter.

“I’m very happy that it happened again today in an important moment,” Ginobili said. “It made me feel good, and it helped the team get a lead and then rest of the guys that were in there the last five minutes were amazing both defensively and offensively, so very solid game.”

Point guard Dejounte Murray added 17 points for San Antonio, Rudy Gay scored 16 and Patty Mills had 13 for the Spurs.

The Spurs remained sixth in the Western Conference standings. If the playoffs started today, San Antonio and Portland would play each other in the first round.

“Our team defense was good [url=http://www.chicagobearsteamonline.com/kyle-fuller-jersey]Kyle Fuller Jersey[/url] , tough cover,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “Our big guys were at the rim the way they needed to be. Our smalls chased really well, so I thought our team defense gave us the opportunity to win the basketball game.”

Monday’s game will be the regular-season home finale for the Spurs, who have won 32 of 40 games at AT&T Center this season, the third-best home record in the league.

The Kings have an opportunity to put a monkey wrench into all of the Spurs’ good feelings with an upset. Sacramento can draw on the momentum it built Friday with a 94-93 win at Memphis.

The Kings won when guard Bogdan Bogdanovic knocked down a 16-foot jumper with 1.1 seconds remaining. He then stole the inbounds pass to end the game.

Willie Cauley-Stein led the Kings with 18 points, Buddy Hield finished with 14, and De’Aaron Fox and Justin Jackson each scored 13. Bogdanovic had just eight points but made the game’s biggest shot.

“He’s struggled shooting the basketball, it didn’t seem like he had a lot of energy,” Kings coach Dave Joerger said about Bogdanovic. “And he’s got the purest heart ever — he’s just exhausted mentally and so he kind of lost focus. We got him some good looks.”

Bogdanovic said the games at this point of the season are a grind on his psyche and don’t give him the same feedback at the end.

“It’s more mental because we’re out of the playoffs,” Bogdanovic said. “But we’re still trying to win and still trying to play the right way. It’s tough, but we’ll figure it out, and we want to finish the season strong.”

Kings forward Zach Randolph missed his eighth straight game, the last four for personal reasons. Monday’s game is the road finale this season for Sacramento.

San Antonio has won 13 straight games over Sacramento and has beaten the Kings 10 consecutive times at the AT&T Center.

A Kings win would allow Sacramento to avoid the season series sweep by San Antonio or the fourth consecutive year.

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