NBA: New Orleans Pelicans vs. San Antonio Spurs Preview, Odds, Prediction

Zion Williamson and his New Orleans Pelicans will face the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday night and try to defeat the division rivals. This wouldn’t bring them only a valuable victory, but a significant boost of morale. That might come quite handy for the franchise from Louisiana, as they have massive oscillations lately. The Spurs, meanwhile, had a lot of time to rest, skipping four events, before losing to the Oklahoma City Thunder this Thursday night. Previously, Gregg Popovich’s side was playing solid, having five triumphs in six events.

Preview

New Orleans Pelicans (14-18, TBA) lost to the Milwaukee Bucks in Wisconsin on Thursday, 129-125, missing a nice opportunity to win the game or at least force overtime, all due to their indecisiveness. The Pels had the last attack, but instead of shooting or attacking the rim, they would pass over the ball to one another in the crucial moments.

Brandon Ingram scored 23 points, with an awful three-point shooting percentage, 1-for-10. Zion Williamson was, as usual, the best scorer among the Pels, with 34 buckets, eight boards and six assists. Lonzo Ball added 20 with 8 assists, sinking six threes.

New Orleans played pretty well against the Bucks, not allowing the hosts to pull away, going back and forth with Giannis and the crew. They would outrebound them, 54-49, and also have more assists, 32-21, but in the end, they failed to capitalize all that

San Antonio Spurs (16-12, TBA) didn’t play four games, due to COVID-19 issues. They are back now, but in the first game following the pause, SAS lost to OKC Thunder 102-99 on the road. It was the match in which Shai Gilgeous Alexander scored 42 buckets demolishing Gregg Popovich’s side.

Though, what needs to be said is that Spurs appeared without DeMar DeRozan and that they had only Dejounte Murray worthy of mentioning. The point guard scored 27 points with nine boards and six assists, whooting 12-for-20 from the field.

One more thing needs to be mentioned. DeRozan and Aldridge are both in trade block, as certain media explained. The Spurs are shopping these two guys on the market, and we can expect to see them hitting the exit doors pretty soon. That will have certain consequences on tonight’s match. DeRozan probably won’t play, which makes this team much weaker.

Head to Head Games

The two sides played one match, early on this season, and the Pels won 98-95, with Ingram dropping 28 points and grabbing 11 boards. Zion had 18 and 11. Rudy Gay had 22 for the Spurs.

Prediction

The Pelicans are slight favorites, according to the bookies (-4.5 points). And to be honest, if they play like against the Bucks, there won’t be any problems of beating the shorthanded Spurs, who will probably decide to sit out Aldridge as well.

It seems that the franchise from Texas decided to enter a rebuild, and they are apparently doing that aggressively, shopping their best players. We aren’t sure, but the situation is probably a bit tense in the Spurs locker room, and that is why we propose to bet on the Pelicans to win this one. Without the spread, if you want to feel safer.