Desperate, revenge, overdue. Any of those words fit the Pelicans' situation for tonight.

New Orleans is 0-6. It's the Pelicans' worst start in 11 years. Now New Orleans hosts Dallas. The Pelicans just lost 107-98 to the Mavericks in Dallas this past Saturday. It's a short turnabout revenge spot.

The Pelicans were missing Jrue Holiday, who is working his way back from a leg injury. He should play today. New Orleans has too much talent to stay winless with Anthony Davis, Holiday, Eric Gordon and Ryan Anderson. Davis is unquestionably the best big man in the game averaging 25.2 points, 9.3 rebounds and 2.8 blocks.

The Mavericks are in similar to the Pelicans in that some of their key veterans are rounding into shape coming back from injuries. They had a lot of players miss training camp and being on minutes restrictions. It's taking time for the Mavericks, with a bunch of new faces, to get acclimated.

Dallas is down this season. The Mavericks are not the playoff caliber squad of past seasons. The Mavericks also have a huge look-ahead game as they host the Clippers on Wednesday. That's their home grudge match game of the year after the Clippers stole free agent DeAndre Jordan from them after Jordan gave his word he'd sign with Dallas.

This is a circle-the-wagons game for New Orleans. The Pelicans' next three games are on the road starting Wednesday at Atlanta where they will be heavy underdogs.