NBA: LA Clippers vs. New Orleans Pelicans Preview, Odds, Prediction

The LA Clippers head to New Orleans to meet with the struggling Pelicans. Before the season began, we’ve anticipated seeing these two units far above the current rankings, but injuries ruined their plans. The Clippers have been without Kawhi since the last year’s playoffs, and in the meantime, they lost Paul George, while on the other side, the cornerstone of the franchise, Zion Williamson, didn’t play a single minute this year. It pretty much disrupted everything the Pelicans planned, and the consequences are pretty logical.

Preview

LA Clippers (21-21, +130) come down to the Big Easy following a big comeback against the Denver Nuggets. Tyron Lue’s guys were 25 points behind the rivals on Tuesday night but managed to erase the deficit outscoring the rivals 32-19 in the final period and eventually winning 87-85.

A diverse offense was the main reason for this fantastic result, as five of the Clips players had 10 or more points, with Amir Coffey having a team-high 18 buckets in 43 minutes. He also added seven assists and five boards, plus four steals, taking the man of the match honors.

Eric Bledsoe was the initial spark off the bench with 11 points and nine assists, recording a +/- of 28. Terance Mann had 13, the same as Reggie Jackson, who posterized Nikola Jokic with a powerful dunk. Marcus Morris Sr. finished the game with 12 points.

New Orleans Pelicans (15-26, -150) won twice in the last three games, which gives hope to their fans that this talented team might finally put up some decent stretch of results. Since the campaign started, we’ve witnessed Pelicans constantly going down and bringing nothing but pain and frustration to their fans.

A high-scoring performance against the Timberwolves and a 128-125 victory were necessary for these guys to boost their morale. Brandon Ingram delivered a game-winning bucket with less than a second to go. It completed his superb night, in which he scored 33 points, 11-for-19 from the field, missing only one of his seven three-point attempts.

Josh Hart had 21 points, nine boards and five assists, while Jonas Valanciunas added another double-double with 13 points and 12 boards. The Pelicans were shooting 55.3% from the field, dropping 16 threes. They were also much better in transition than the guests, scoring 28 points compared to only Minnesota’s 8.

Head to Head Games

There had been two head-to-head meetings between these two teams in 2021/22. The first in New Orleans saw the hosts winning 94-81, while the second in LA also ended with the Pels triumphing, 123-104.

Prediction

The Clippers now have a much deeper rotation than a few days ago, but they are still banged up pretty badly, and lack several big-time contributors. On the other side, it is noticeable that the Pelicans are slowly improving. We’ve seen them pretty efficient in the attack, and never mind their opponents’ poor defensive ratings, NO did have some pretty solid displays in the last several days. Our pick here is the hosts to win, despite many believing otherwise. It is a risky one, but our guts tell us to try it, as Pels seems quite solid, while their opponents have far too much trouble at this particular moment.

Pick: Pelicans win

Here is the preview for the Timberwolves vs. Grizzlies game.