Los Angeles Clippers vs New Orleans Pelicans 4/15/22 NBA Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Los Angeles Clippers play host to the New Orleans Pelicans in a battle for the 8^th seed at the Crypto.com Arena on Friday night.

The New Orleans Pelicans will be walking into this game full of confidence after taking down the Spurs in a 113-103 home win on Wednesday. CJ McCollum led the way with 32 points, six rebounds and seven assists, Brandon Ingram added 27 points with five assists on 11 of 19 shooting while Jonas Valanciunas chipped in with 22 points, 14 rebounds and two blocks. As a team, the Pelicans shot 54 percent from the field and eight of 20 from the 3-point line as they jumped all over the Spurs right from the start and poured in 35 points in the second quarter to take an 11-point lead into halftime, before going on another push in the third quarter to lead by as many as 21 points. It wasn’t all smooth sailing as the Spurs rallied in the fourth quarter to cut their lead to just six points, but the Pelicans did enough to keep their season alive.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Clippers will be hoping to bounce back in this one after coming up just short to the Timberwolves in a 109-104 road loss on Tuesday. Paul George led the team with 34 points, seven rebounds and five assists, Reggie Jackson added 17 points with seven rebounds and five assists while Norman Powell chipped in with 16 points off the bench. As a team, the Clippers shot just 43 percent from the field and 16 of 35 from the 3-point line as they looked to be in control after pouring in 33 points in the third quarter to build a 10-point lead, only to go ice-cold as they got outscored by 26-11 in the final 8:40 to allow the Timberwolves to slip away in the end.

Looking at the betting trends, the Pelicans are 13-5 ATS in their last 18 road games, 1-5 ATS in their last six games against a team with a winning record and 10-4 ATS in their last 14 games as a road underdog. The Clippers are 4-1 ATS in their last five home games, 6-0 ATS in their last six games against a team with a losing record and 4-1 ATS in their last five games overall.

Head to head, the under is 4-1 in the last five meetings overall and the Pelicans are 38-17 ATS in the last 55 meetings overall.

The Clippers really made it hard for themselves in their last outing where they committed 17 turnovers and their season could be over if they don’t fix that against the Pelicans in this spot. Momentum is definitely with the Pelicans after their win over the Spurs and they’ve already beaten the Clippers in three of four regular season meetings, so I’ll go with the Pelicans and the points in this spot.