Lakers vs. Pelicans Pick
Will Anthony Davis and the host New Orleans Pelicans generate enough points along with the Los Angeles Lakers to hit the over tonight? Tip-off is at 8PM ET.
According to oddsmakers at YouWager, the Pelicans are listed as a 5.5-point favorite on the spread line. The total is set at 232 points. New Orleans opened as a 4-point fave, while the total has jumped up from 226.
As of Wednesday afternoon, 51 percent of public bets have sided with the Pelicans. Online wager info also shows 53 percent of bets coming in on the over.
New Orleans won the first meeting this season by a score of 119-112 in Los Angeles all the way back in October. The Pelicans have slightly had the upper hand in the series of late, covering the spread six of the last 10 meetings. The under has gone 6-4, although the meeting this season hit the over on a projected total of 221.5. Even with the inflated over tonight, it is definitely a bet worth considering with New Orleans hitting the over 32 of 56 times this season while LA is 28-27 on overs. These two squads play at a fast pace and are not good defensively, although the Pelicans are much worse in that department.
The Lakers had a four-game win streak snapped with a 130-123 loss at Dallas their last contest. Los Angeles is 7-3 ATS in its last 10, while the over-under is 5-5. New Orleans is winners of two in a row and is 5-5 ATS the last 10 games. The Pelicans are 6-4 on unders.
My take is that there is no over that is too high for the Pelicans. They are an even worse defensive team since DeMarcus Cousins’ injury, while the offense hasn’t skipped much of a beat with Davis and Jrue Holiday seeing their usage rates increase. Los Angeles has not issues in the scoring department either, with the 123-point output last game still managing to lead to a loss. Take the over here.
NBA DAILY PREDICTION: LAKERS/PELICANS OVER 232