New Orleans Pelicans: Betting guide vs. surprising Phoenix Suns
By Jason Reed
The New Orleans Pelicans have won three of their last four games and look to continue the momentum in Phoenix against the surprising Suns.
The 2019 season started off dreadful for the New Orleans Pelicans after a promising 5-0 preseason that got everyone excited for what was to come this season. Without Zion Williamson, the Pelicans stumbled out of the gate and battled more injuries than any other team other than the Golden State Warriors.
However, the Pelicans have been playing better of late despite the injury battle and are actually riding a two-game winning streak. The Pelicans have won three of their last four games and four of their five wins on the season have come in the last six games.
New Orleans has two really good wins under its belt as well, defeating both the Portland Trailblazers in Carmelo Anthony‘s season debut and the Los Angeles Clippers in Paul George‘s season debut.
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Granted, Damian Lillard and Kawhi Leonard were out in both of those contests, making things a bit easier for the Pelicans.
Regardless, the Pelicans look to continue that momentum if they want any hopes of contending for the eighth-seed in the Western Conference and are tasked with the surprising Phoenix Suns on Thursday.
The Suns have been much better than anyone outside of Phoenix would have guessed so far this year. They are seventh in the Western Conference with a 7-6 record. Not a red-hot start, but definitely surprising.
The Suns are the favorites in this game as the home team and according to the Action Network, Phoenix is 4.5-point favorites over New Orleans in this contest. As we have (unsuccessfully) tried to do with the rest of the games this year, here is our against the spread prediction for this matchup.
Against the spread prediction (Record: 4-7-1): New Orleans Pelicans +4.5
The Phoenix Suns are also battling injuries and I think that will be the difference in this game. 2019 standout Aron Baynes is out and with DeAndre Ayton still serving his suspension, the Suns will not have as big of an advantage down low as they could have had with Derrick Favors and Jahlil Okafor likely missing the game.
Ricky Rubio is doubtful, which is a huge loss for a Suns’ offense that needs an actual point guard, and Frank Kaminsky is probable. Even if he plays, the fact that he is not 100 percent helps the Pelicans with their usual size disadvantage.
All in all, I think this game is going to be a shootout between Brandon Ingram and Jrue Holiday versus Devin Booker. Two is greater than one and that is why I will take the Pelicans and the points despite them being on the road.
Next. Saints will be double winners on Sunday. dark
Too bad most fans probably won’t watch much of this game as it starts at 9:30. Don’t worry, when you wake up on Sunday you will see that the Pelicans got the job done.