Free NBA Pick: Pelicans vs. Thunder NBA Odds
Looking for New Orleans Pelicans vs. Oklahoma City Thunder free NBA picks & NBA odds? NBA betting sees the Pelicans taking on the Thunder on Thursday, April 29th at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Cappers Picks provides complimentary expert handicapping picks on all NBA basketball matchups so stay tuned for more FREE daily NBA hoops predictions like this Pelicans Thunder matchup.
2021 NBA Handicapping
(27-35) New Orleans Pelicans vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (21-41)
Date: Thursday, April 29th
Time: 9:00 PM EST
Venue: Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
NBA Moneyline Odds: OFF
NBA Betting Odds: Pelicans -8
NBA Betting Total: 229.5
Thursday, April 29th the New Orleans Pelicans and Oklahoma City Thunder play for the third and final time this week. The Pelicans won the December 31st match 113-80 while the Thunder won on January 6th, 111-110.
The Thunder holds the all-time record between the squads with 37 victories in 63 meetings. Last season the teams played four times with OKC sweeping the regular-season series.
New Orleans Pelicans
The Pelicans didn’t think they’d have Steven Adams available but the big man returned although he was far from 100 percent and not much of a deterrent to Nikola Jokic.
New Orleans gave the Nuggets all they could handle coming back in clutch time, however, and but for Jokic blocking Zion Williamson’s shot with a little over two seconds remaining the game could’ve been headed to overtime.
It was a heartbreaking loss for the Pels who almost pulled off an unbelievable comeback. Denver was up 110-101 with 52.8 seconds remaining. But, 43 seconds later New Orleans had rallied cutting the game to two points.
Eric Bledsoe stole the ball on Jokic’s inbound pass but quickly made amends for his miscue blocking Zion Williamson as he went up to dunk and tie the game.
Post-game there was a ton of banter about the Jokic block with the Pels obviously saying it was a foul. Based on this lone angle review I felt it was clean (here’s the play for those who want another look).
Brandon Ingram led the way for the Pels with 27 points while Zion scored 21 and Lonzo Ball posted a triple-double of 16 points, 12 rebounds, and 12 assists.
Oklahoma City Thunder
As I predicted in the odds preview the game in Boston would go OKC’s way especially if Luguentz Dort was in the lineup. Both of those things happened and the young Thunder star was the key in every aspect of the match.
He was the top scorer for his team (24 points) despite a poor shooting night but was aggressive getting to the line (11 of 13) and captained the defense.
While virtually every play contributed to the victory, Dort and Darius Bazley who put up a double-double of 21 points and 10 rebounds took charge on the court like grizzled vets.
Based on wins by the Pistons and Magic, are in a virtual tie with the third-best odds to nab the top draft pick. Even with the win the Thunder only trail them by two games.
The bottom three teams will have an equal 14% percent chance of winning the draft lottery. Those odds regress to 12.5% for the fourth-worst team and 10.5% for the fifth-worst club (where OKC is currently seeded).
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (plantar fasciitis), Al Horford (shut down), Josh Hall (bilateral knee; soreness), Mike Muscala (ankle), and Gabriel Deck (not with team) all missed the game on Wednesday and are expected out Friday.
NBA Betting Trends:
- The Thunder are 7-3 in their last 10 head to head meetings
- The Thunder are 6-4 ATS in the last 10 head to head meetings
- Over/Under is 5-5 in the teams last 10 head to head meetings
Free New Orleans Pelicans vs. Oklahoma City Thunder NBA Prediction:
The 14 game losing streak is over and by avoiding a franchise record for losses the Thunder can now reinvest in tanking to finish the season.
Alternatively, the Pelicans are actively vying to get into the play-in tournament and trail the Warriors by four games. With only nine games remaining time is running out for New Orleans but one-third of those dates are versus the Warriors.
4* Free NBA Betting Pick: Pelicans ATS
NBA Free Prediction: Warriors 115 – Thunder 106 (Bet Now!)
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