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Jrue Holiday playing for Pelicans in Game 4 on Saturday

Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

The New Orleans Pelicans will be at full strength when they try to extend their 2014-15 season on Saturday.

Stuck in a 3-0 hole against the Golden State Warriors, the Pelicans will have point guard Jrue Holiday active for Game 4. Holiday missed three months toward the end of the season due to a stress reaction in his right leg, and lingering soreness makes his status a day-to-day matter.

Holiday managed to play 21 minutes in Game 1 and 17 minutes in Game 3 but wasn't healthy enough for Game 2 in between. He's had just a single day off since his last action, and the Pelicans waited until immediately before tip-off to make a call on his status. He'll play, and even in limited minutes, that could be big for New Orleans.

While Holiday's offense has been muted some since returning - he's averaged nine points and four assists over three regular season and two playoff games - it's his defense that New Orleans craves against Steph Curry and company. Tyreke Evans has filled in capably as the lead ball-handler but Holiday, even at less than full health, is theoretically their best check on Curry.

In a small regular season sample, that didn't manifest itself in the numbers:

Curry vs. Pelicans Pts/36 Ast/36 TS% O-Rtg
with Holiday 26.9 9.1 65.2% 116.0
with out Holiday 23.8 11.6 53.2% 111.7

But so far in the playoffs, the Pelicans have been a little better off with Holiday than without him:

Curry vs. Pelicans Pts/36 Ast/36 TS% O-Rtg
with Holiday 38.8 2.8 56.8% 106.7
with out Holiday 25.8 6.8 56.6% 111.4

There's a lot of noise in those numbers - Holiday has only faced Curry for 26 minutes in the series - but in any case, the Pelicans would prefer all hands on deck for an elimination game.

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