Something happened on the New Orleans Pelicans' path to the playoffs after they traded for DeMarcus Cousins. They lost their first three games out of the All-Star break to fall four games behind the eighth-place Denver Nuggets.

As Cousins and Anthony Davis learn to coexist, the Pelicans have struggled on both ends of the floor. While Cousins and Davis have put up strong numbers, Jrue Holiday has shot 29 percent with almost as many turnovers (16) as assists (18). And what was the league's eighth-ranked defense before the break has allowed 113 points per 100 possessions in the three games to fall out of the top 10.

The early post-break schedule wasn't easy. The Pelicans had to face the high-powered Rockets in their first game with Cousins, and then had a road back-to-back in Dallas and Oklahoma City.

Things aren't going to get much easier from here on out. The Pelicans have the league's fourth toughest remaining schedule when you take opponent strength, location and rest into account. While 13 of their 22 remaining games are against teams currently below .500, only two of those (both against the Lakers) are against a team that is out of the playoff picture.

With the cluster of below .500 teams fighting for the last playoff spot in each conference, there are a lot of not-so-good teams playing important games. But that could end up being a positive for the Pelicans.

Though there are five teams between them and a playoff spot, the Pelicans can take care of business themselves if they can put it together between now and the middle of March, because starting March 14, eight of their final 16 games are against those five teams in front of them. Five of those eight games are at home and three (one at home, two in Denver) are against the eighth-place Nuggets.

So if they can keep pace with Denver over the next two weeks, the Pelicans will have a lot of big games to play over the final month of the season.

Here's a breakdown of the remaining schedules for all 15 teams in the Western Conference...