Toronto Raptors at New Orleans Pelicans 1/2/21: NBA Basketball free preview, analysis, prediction, odds and pick against the spread.
2021-01-02 19:30:00 EDT
The New Orleans Pelicans play host to the Toronto Raptors at the Smoothie King Center on Saturday night.
The Toronto Raptors will be breathing a little sigh of relief after they were able to put a halt to a three-game skid with a 100-83 home win over the Knicks for their first win of the season. Fred VanVleet led the team with 25 points and seven assists, Kyle Lowry added 20 points while Norman Powell chipped in with 17 points. As a team, the Raptors shot just 41 percent from the field and 17 of 52 from the 3-point line, but they were committed defensively as they went into halftime with the scores tied, before rallying in the second half where they outscored the Knicks by 58-41. OG Anunobi had a forgettable night as he made just one of 10 to finish with five points.
Meanwhile, the New Orleans Pelicans have been in decent shape as they’ve won three of their five games and they will be looking to stay hot after making light work of the struggling Thunder in a 113-80 road win on Thursday. Brandon Ingram led the team with 20 points on eight of 16 shooting, Eric Bledsoe added 17 points, Lonzo Ball racked up 16 points with eight rebounds and nine assists while Josh Hart chipped in with 12 points and 11 rebounds off the bench. As a team, the Pelicans shot 48 percent from the field and 13 of 36 from the 3-point line as they struggled for most of the game, before finishing on a low note as they managed just seven points in the fourth quarter.
Looking at the betting trends, the Raptors are 3-7 ATS in their last 10 games against a team with a winning record, 5-11 ATS in their last 16 games following a win of more than 10 points and 1-4 ATS in their last five games overall. The Pelicans are 1-5 ATS in their last six games as an underdog, 2-7 ATS in their last 10 home games and 1-6 ATS in their last seven games against a team with a losing record.
Head to head, the over is 5-2-2 in the last nine meetings in New Orleans, the Raptors are 15-6-1 ATS in the last 22 meetings overall and the Raptors are 16-2 ATS in the last 18 meetings in New Orleans.
The Raptors must be feeling so much better now they’ve earned their first win of the season, but they’ve run into a Pelicans team who are coming into this one fresh off a 33-point win over the Grizzlies. I want to believe that the Raptors are about to go on a run starting tonight, but it’s hard to feel too confident as they’ve only beaten the Knicks. This should be a close one, but I’m going with the Pelicans at home.
