The New Orleans Pelicans will return to the Smoothie King Center tonight after a road-heavy schedule that had them play 8-of-11 on the road to start the season.
The Pels can now settle in for a six game home stand where they will hopefully get rolling and pile up some wins in front of the New Orleans’ faithful.
They will take on the Portland Trail Blazers and both teams will be on the second game of a back-to-back, as the Blazers beat the Hornets last night and the Pels pulled out an ugly win against the Chicago Bulls.
Both teams will be traveling and the Trail Blazers could be short handed, which could give some advantages to bettors looking for value.
New Orleans Pelicans vs Portland Trail Blazers: Odds and Spread, Over/Under
According to Fanduel, the Pelicans are 6.5 favorites at home tonight against the Trail Blazers, who have started the season 8-3, which is somewhat of a surprise.
The money lines are set at -255 for New Orleans and +210 for the Blazers and the over/under is a combined 224.5.
This is a low total for the Pelicans, who are the NBA’s highest-scoring team, but I like the under in this one for a couple of reasons. Both teams are on the second game of a back-to-back, so we could see some road-weary legs and poor shooting early on.
Portland has failed to score more than 110 points in their last five games, with totals of 105, 110, 82, 108 and 106 in that span. They could also be missing several players with Jerami Grant, Jusuf Nurkic and Keon Johnson all listed as day-to-day and Gary Payton II already ruled out.
These factors could keep the score down, so I like the Pels to hold the Trail Blazers in check.
New Orleans Pelicans vs Portland Trail Blazers: Prediction
The Pels will be happy to return home and should get a boost from their supporters. I think last night’s win over Chicago was a big one, as it showed they can gut one out on the road when their stars didn’t have their best nights.
The key is obviously stopping their guards, so I hope we see a bit more Jose Alvarado and Dyson Daniels tonight and less of Devonte’ Graham, whose continued spot in the rotation is starting to become a mystery.
Back-to-backs always favor the home team and the one with more depth, which is the Pelicans in both cases, so I like them to get a big win against the shorthanded Trail Blazers.
New Orleans 115, Portland 100