Pelicans vs. Pistons: Odds for a game the Pels need to win

The New Orleans Pelicans will hit the road again to play the Detroit Pistons in their second game in as many nights.

This will be the Pelicans’ 6th game in nine days and all of them were back-to-backs, but they need to summon the energy to get a win against one of the NBA’s worst teams.

New Orleans has not submitted their injury report yet, so we’ll have to wait on the status of Brandon Ingram, who has missed the last five games.

The Pelicans have luckily gotten some help from the bad teams around them in the standings and haven’t really lost any ground in the play-in race even though they have dropped four in a row.

This is a game the Pelicans would love to win on the road, with or without Ingram, but the Pistons are scrappy and aren’t going to roll over at home.

Can the Pelicans start February with a win?

New Orleans Pelicans vs. Detroit Pistons: Odds, spread, over/under and best bets

According to WynnBET, the Pelicans are three point underdogs on the road vs. the lowly Pistons.

I think this spread reflects the idea that Ingram is not going to play, as it is hard to imagine New Orleans would be underdogs otherwise.

The money lines are set at -145 for the Pistons and +120 for the Pelicans. The Pistons’ last game was a win over the Cavaliers (who beat New Orleans last night), so they will be a young team trying to build momentum with another win.

The over/under is 215, which seems absurdly high considering the Pels have shot 19 percent from 3-point range in their last three games and failed to break 100 against Cleveland.

Detroit’s defense isn’t nearly as good, but the Pels could have tired legs, so I like the under in this one.

If Ingram plays, I also like the Pelicans to win the game on the road even though Detroit could be back to full strength with both Jerami Grant and Kelly Olynyk returning from injury.

If Ingram doesn’t play, avoid New Orleans or take the points with the under and hope it’s a close and ugly game, which it very well could be.

The Pistons don’t have much rim protection, so Jonas Valanciunas should have a big game (as long as he plays) and Jaxson Hayes has also been putting up stats in increased minutes of late. The Pistons don’t really have a real center, so these two should both rack up the rebounds and easy buckets under the rim.

Josh Hart continues to be a double-double machine but the Pistons also have good rebounders, so his numbers could be negated somewhat. I’d stick with the big men in this one for daily fantasy.

How to watch Pelicans vs. Pistons

The game vs. Detroit has an early tip off of 6:00 PM CT and you can watch on Bally Sports New Orleans or listen on ESPN 100.3 FM.