Friday and Saturday night are basketball nights in Oakland this week, as the Golden State Warriors will host first the Bulls and then the New Orleans Pelicans. All challengers have extra motivation to come in and perform, hoping to get a W that would boost them over the short period, but the Pelicans better have their legs ready, having to play the champs less than 24 hours after a run-and-gun game in Phoenix.
Pelicans at Warriors
Spread: Golden State -13 (-110) at BetDSI Sportsbook
Total: o/u 229.5 points (-110)
The Pelicans hope that this is just a beginning
The Pelicans are winning games, not always in a most thrilling fashion, but they’ve recently found ways to rack up victories. This has boosted their confidence. Playing a bunch of perennial losers, their superstars included, New Orleans believe that there’s a reason to expect better things coming forward, especially as they feel more experienced with Rajon Rondo’s leadership.
I have my doubts about a team that plays such colorful characters like Cousins and Rondo, and the latter has buried a few offenses with his inability to shoot, but for now, it’s all good. Rondo is playing disciplined ball and is actually playing on defense, something that has boosted this team more than the fact that they improved the moment they displaced Holiday from the organizational duties. In their last win over San Antonio, the perimeter defense was excellent – not only they held the Spurs shooters to an abysmal shooting percentage, but they also limited their number of tries, running hard to the three-point line and fighting through screens. The Warriors are obviously more talented, but such effort will diminish their performance too. Still, the Pelicans won on playing their big men big minutes. Davis and Cousins barely sat before the garbage time, and they gave the crucial advantage against Spurs backups. It’s a bad plan long term when the minutes add up, but it also shows the high desire to win now, not in January, March or May, but right now. With two comeback wins over Western Conference playoff teams, they have to have the same approach in Phoenix tonight, to show they mean business.
Apart from the long-term absent players, the Pelicans are healthy. After this back-to-back set on the road, they return to Big Easy to play Minnesota before going on the road again.
Place: Oracle Arena, Oakland, California
Date/Time: Saturday, November 25th, 2017. 8:30 PM ET
TV Coverage: NBCSBA, Fox Sports New Orleans
The Warriors get a split on four-game road trip
After a 7-game win streak, going 2-2 on the road isn’t overly satisfying, but also doesn’t hurt the Golden State Warriors much. However, considering the nature of their wins and losses, they can’t be too happy about it. The Warriors lost a playoff-type game in Boston, and then barely manage to come back from behind to beat Philadelphia and Brooklyn, before getting blown out 91-108 in Durant’s former home in Oklahoma City.
The next four days in Oracle Arena, playing some of the worst teams in the league will help the Warriors regain their momentum, and they’ll need one back, as they’ll embark on a 6-game road trip after it. Tonight, they play Chicago, and it will be a nice overture for the much taller task of beating New Orleans the next day. They’ve already faced the Pelicans this season, winning 128-120 in Louisiana in the first days of the season. To do so again, they’ll have to play better than in OKC the other night, when they’ve shot just 41 percent and scored just 92 points. Even more troublesome was the difference on the glass – with Cousins and Davis coming in, it would certainly hurt them if not cleaned up. They need more from Draymond Green, who is having a down season so far. He was just 1-of-6 from the field in OKC, adding 4 boards and six assists to just 4 points. Durant and Curry are always ready to play, scoring 20+ points with ease, but the rest of the squad isn’t this consistent. The Warriors are still scoring 116.4 points per game, the most in the league, and are winning by 8.9 points on average, but it’s not the last year’s standard.
Durant returned after missing one game and showed no ill effects of the injury in the last game, but won’t play against Chicago. Of course, playing back-to-back, there’s some chance that coach Kerr decided to rest him and Draymond Green, or opts to rest some of his players with minor injury or major age on the second night.
New Orleans Pelicans at Golden State Warriors Game Trends & Prediction
New Orleans has been streaky when it comes to betting, and the most recent streak is having two wins, and potentially three if they can win tonight. Not counting this game, they have gone 11-7 overall and 6-3 on the road. The books are underpricing them, but they still deliver. The game against the Spurs broke a streak of three overs, so they are now 9-9 against the total points lines.
The Warriors failed to cover in each of the last five games, and the bookies are counting money. After a good stretch, Golden State is again a poor bet, going 7-11 against the spread this season, and 3-5 at home. They play at a similar pace like last year and have cut down on turnovers that were bugging them in first weeks, all while improving defensively, so we have a 9-9 split on totals market, 4-4 at home.
Admi-Rank: Despite losing focus and ground in the most recent road trip, the Warriors are still in a class of their own. The Pelicans are on a rise, but still ain’t deserving enough to be considered average, and certainly not more.
These two teams don’t match up well. The Pelicans will be crushed on the outside, and the Warriors aren’t too happy with having to wrestle with two dominant big men. Still, the difference between two sides is quite large, and the Pelicans should have no chance of coming close if the Warriors play for 48 minutes. The Warriors also play defense, and the Pelicans have lost before even when their stars went off and scored 60 among the two. The hosts are going to shut down everyone else, and cruise to victory.
In wake of Durant and Green’s absence from the game against the Bulls, the books have been surprisingly open with coming forward with odds early. The Warriors have been set as a 13-point favorite, which is equal to the expectation that one of the big four won’t play. It’s too big of a gamble to take right now, but should the news be positive it holds enough of a value to go with the home side. The total has been set well, I’m also at 229.5 points line, so there’s unlikely to be any bet there.
My Pick: Golden State -13 (-110)
Total: (no wager on the total points)
