NBA Betting – Phoenix Suns at New Orleans Pelicans
By Zack Garrison in News
Updated: January 17, 2018 at 9:40 am ESTPublished:
Phoenix Suns at New Orleans Pelicans (-8.5, o/u 197)
In terms of record, the New Orleans Pelicans (42-36, 26-13 Home) are currently tied with the Oklahoma City Thunder for the last postseason berth in the Western Conference. The Pelicans own the tiebreaker with OKC thanks to a 3-1 head-to-head record. But with the Thunder at home to the lowly Kings tonight, the Pelicans likely need a win over the Phoenix Suns (39-40, 17-22 Away) this evening to keep pace (8:00 PM Eastern at the Smoothie King Center).
After downing the NBA-best Warriors on Tuesday (103-100), New Orleans couldn’t keep the momentum going, posting a terrible 110-74 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies the next night.
It would be easy for the team to blame the back-to-back games for the rout, but no one was using that as a scapegoat.
“We can’t make excuses. Everyone’s tired this time of year,” said Pelicans power forward Anthony Davis. “Tough game [Tuesday] night against the best team in the league. We put a lot into that game, but that would be a cop out to say that’s why we played like we did tonight.”
The Pelicans had been chasing Phoenix for the final playoff spot for most of the year, but the Suns fell off the pace after dealing Isaiah Thomas and Goran Dragic at the trade deadline. The team was officially eliminated from the playoffs after a 107-104 loss to the Mavericks on Wednesday.
“It’s been a difficult year in terms of having a lot of different guys and having a trade in the middle of the year,” coach Jeff Hornacek said. “For the most part, these guys have been battling. Our guys are young. They’re learning how to win.”
The loss was the seventh in the last eight games for the Suns, who are having to play out the season sans star guard Brandon Knight.
In the trends, Phoenix is 4-2 SU in its last six games on the road in New Orleans, but just 5-9-1 ATS in its last 15 overall against the Pelicans.
With Davis and company eager to rebound from the embarrassing loss to the Grizzlies – and the Suns lacking one of their top players in Knight – consider New Orleans laying the points.
(Photo credit:Â Keith Allison (Flickr: Anthony Davis) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo may appear cropped from its original.)
Sports Writer
Zack is a tour guide whose favorite sports are football, baseball, and golf. He enjoys giving obnoxious commentary during games and hopes to some day write a book about sports. His favorite underdog victory was the Diamondbacks beating the Yankees in game 7 of the World Series.
