San Antonio Spurs vs. New Orleans Pelicans Prediction, NBA Odds
The Pelicans are 5-point home favourites on the NBA odds. It’s a matchup of former Raptors centres.
Spurs vs. Pelicans NBA Betting Odds
Just a reminder of how the NBA play-in tournament works. The No. 7 seed hosts the No. 8 in each conference and that winner becomes the official No. 7 seed in the playoffs and faces the No. 2 in the first round. The loser of the 7 vs. 8 game will host the winner of the 9 vs. 10 game for the eighth and final spot in each conference.
So, the winner of this matchup between San Antonio and New Orleans will face either the No. 7 Minnesota Timberwolves (would be my guess) or No. 8 Los Angeles Clippers and then the winner of that would face the top-seeded Phoenix Suns, the NBA title favourites, in the playoffs. Technically, the NBA doesn’t consider the play-in tournament part of the post-season, but stats don’t count toward the regular season, either.
The Spurs were 3-1 vs. the Pelicans in the regular season. San Antonio has covered seven straight trips to New Orleans.
San Antonio Spurs
This was supposed to be a rebuilding season in San Antonio, but a 34-48 record was enough to earn the final play-in tournament in the West thanks in large part to the Los Angeles Lakers completely imploding down the stretch. The Spurs don’t enter with much momentum on a three-game skid. Their best player, All-Star guard Dejounte Murray, only played in one of those but will be good to go Wednesday. He averaged 21.1 points, 9.2 assists and 8.3 rebounds on the season and was second in the NBA with 13 triple-doubles.
Former Raptors centre Jakob Poeltl is still with San Antonio and had another solid season in averaging 13.5 points and 9.3 rebounds. Toronto native Josh Primo was the No. 12 overall pick in the 2021 draft and has moved into the starting lineup of late, although it’s not clear if Gregg Popovich will continue with that. Pop became the NBA’s all-time winningest coach this year and has won five NBA titles, but this team isn’t doing that as the Spurs are +12800 long shots to win the West. They are 7-0 ATS in their past five as underdogs.
New Orleans Pelicans
New Orleans is playing extra basketball for the first time since 2018 and made it thus far despite not having star and former No. 1 overall pick Zion Williamson at all this season due to injury. The team made an excellent trade in February in landing guard CJ McCollum from Portland. He averaged 24.3 points and 5.8 assists with the Pels.
Former Raptors centre Jonas Valanciunas remains a double-double machine, averaging 17.8 points and 11.4 rebounds (No. 8 in NBA). JV has played 48 playoff games in his career, 43 with Toronto (although, again, technically this isn’t a playoff game). New Orleans also has a good-looking rookie in Herb Jones, the No. 35 overall pick in 2021. He’s already one of the better defenders in the league. New Orleans is 11-4-1 ATS in its past 16 as a favourite. We think the Pels win, but they may not cover. They are +11700 to win the West.
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