Lakers – Pelicans

Lakers Pelicans prediction

The Los Angeles Lakers will host the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday night, in what will be the 3rd game of the new NBA season for each team.

Los Angeles (1-1, 0-1 home) started off with an ugly home loss against town rivals Clippers, but managed to bounce back with a narrow win in Phoenix on Saturday. The Lakers are expected to improve this season after a few dreadful years, as they drafted Lonzo Ball and signed good NBA starters Lopez & Caldwell-Pope, but fact is this team remains one of the weakest in the NBA, and the Lakers – as always – are overrated.

The Pelicans (0-2, 0-1 away) promised to focus on starting the season well, after beginning 0-6 and 0-8 in the last two seasons. With DeMarcus Cousins now alongside Anthony Davis, the Pelicans are a team who can realistically could (should?) reach the playoffs. However, they lost their first two games, but on the other hand those were very difficult games – away at Memphis and at home against the Warriors.

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Team news: The Lakers will welcome Caldwell Pope, who was suspended for the first two games of the season. He will be an important piece of this team going forward, but it`s questionable if he will be able to contribute big right away, as he will probably need a couple of games to adjust. As for the Pelicans, Rondo continues to sit out, but there are no new absentees.

Even though the Lakers won in Phoenix on Friday, that doesn`t say much. The Suns are one of the worst teams in the NBA alongside the Lakers, and it was always going to be a game which anybody could have won. It was a rather low level encounter with a lot of defensive errors and the Lakers almost blew a double digit fourth quarter lead, winning by 2 points only because the Suns missed two free throws in the last second.

The Lakers also had a few guys playing well above their means, with Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma or Brandon Ingram having amazing nights – something that won`t happen too often during the season. Also, Brook Lopez (maybe their best player), will have a very tough time in this game against NO’s big man pairing of Cousins and Davis, so Lopez might be limited in productivity.

As for the Pelicans, they were poor in their season opener at Memphis, but played very well on Friday against the Warriors and were in it until the very last end. Cousins and Davis have both been fantastic so far, and will fancy keeping up that level against the lowly Lakers, which have little to no rim protection.

The 0-6 and 0-8 starts probably cost the Pelicans the playoffs in the previous two seasons, and they woved to focus on avoiding another bad start. Fact that they are 0-2 is understandable considering who they faced so far, but going 0-3 with a loss in LA will not be acceptable.

Look for the Pelicans to play at maximum intensity here, as will the Lakers, but the superior quality of the visitors should prevail, especially given how solid the team looked in the last outing against the mighty Warriors. Caldwell Pope will be an important addition for LA and I don`t necessarily expect a blowout, but the -4 handicap is more than reasonable, and the Pelicans should be able to cover it.

Even with Caldwell Pope back, I just don`t see how the Lakers get so much respect from the bookies and I believe they should be a 5.5 or 6.5 point spread underdog here. My tip is New Orleans to cover the -4 point (asian) handicap. Prediction: LA Lakers – NO Pelicans 105 – 116.

Pick: Pelicans -4
Odds: 1.95 @ Pinnacle
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 7.60
Event date: 23 October

About Rostick

Born in '88. Running betting tips websites since 2007. Launched Betdistrict in 2013. Worked as a bookie for a year to spy on the other side. Rugby Union and NBA expert. Editor info & statistics.

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