Finally, we will have tonight the second and last game of the first part of the postseason. The New Orleans Pelicans and the Oklahoma City Thunder are the last teams to debut on the Play-In Tournament and will decide tonight the last team qualified for the next phase, the one before the playoffs' first round.
Again, just like in the East, the winner of this game advances to play against the Minnesota Timberwolves as they lost yesterday’s matchup between #7 and #8 versus the Los Angeles Lakers. The loser, on the other hand, will be eliminated from the season.
The New Orleans Pelicans arrive at this game coming from a loss in the last game of the regular season. After finishing with a 42-40 record, they fell behind the #8 seed because of direct matches. Now they try to win and stay alive on the season as they play at home.
On the other side, the Oklahoma City Thunder had a much more difficult season. They spent a lot of games outside the postseason zone and thanks to a great end of season they could qualify for the Play-In. Now they need to keep winning as they won the last two regular season games to keep the dream possible. They finished the season with a 40-42 record.
Injury Report
For this game, the New Orleans Pelicans have three problems. Two of them are old problems So this is to confirm that Jose Alvarado (leg) and Zion Williamson (hamstring) are in fact out of the game. Another problem is Larry Nance Jr. (ankle), who is listed as questionable for the game.
On the visitors' side, only one problem. Aleksei Pokusevski (knee) has been ruled out of tonight’s game.
Bets
Playing at home, the New Orleans Pelicans are considered the favourites tonight by 5.5 points, which seems a little too much since they are playing the whole season without their best player. The team is not bad but the Thunder are not that worse. On the other hand, the over/under is at 226.5, which is a little bit high. But it makes sense since OKC is the fifth-highest-scoring team in the league.
On the player props lines one good option starts with C.J McCollum having over 22.5 points, which happened in the last three games. Another good pick is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander having over 43.5 points, assists and rebounds combined. This happened in three of the last four games he played. Check out the best predictions for this game.
- OKC Thunder +5.5 (1.90)
- Over 226.5 points (1.90)
- C.J. McCollum over 22.5 points (1.86)
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander over 43.5 points, assists and rebounds combined (1.86)
- Brandon Ingram over 45.5 points, assists and rebounds combined (2.00)
- Brandon Ingram has a double-double (2.60)
- OKC Thunder over 110.5 (1.86)
Game Details
- Venue: Smoothie King Center, New Orleans
- Time: 9:30 PM (ET)
- Broadcast: ESPN
