San Antonio (34-48) at New Orleans (36-46)
When: Wednesday, April 13th, 2022
Where: Smoothie King Center,
New Orleans, LA
Time: 9:30 ET | TV: ESPN
Opening Odds: New Orleans -5.5/232
The San Antonio Spurs and New Orleans Pelicans have losing records, but each have a chance to land in the postseason and visit the top-seeded Phoenix Suns in the first round. The ninth-seeded Pelicans will host this game against the 10th-seeded Spurs by virtue of winning two more games. However, San Antonio went 3-1 against New Orleans this season including a 107-103 win at the Smoothie King Center last month. The Pelicans have not had forward Zion Williamson all season because of foot surgery and lost 12 of their first 13 games. They have posted a winning record since and have played much better since acquiring guard CJ McCollum in early February. Second-leading scorer Brandon Ingram (22.7 ppg) has missed 27 games this season, including the last three due to hamstring tightness, but expects to play Wednesday.
The Spurs had a chance to host this game, but dropped their last three contests of the regular season. San Antonio won both meetings with the Pelicans in New Orleans and have covered the spread seven straight times there. Guard Lonnie Walker IV has been bothered by a sore back since colliding with New Orleans’ Willy Hernangomez on March 18. Walker is averaging 15.3 points off the bench since the All-Star Break and scored a team-high 24 points against Golden State on Saturday before sitting out Sunday’s game at Dallas. The winner will play a road elimination game Friday against the loser of Tuesday’s game between the No. 7 Minnesota Timberwolves and the No. 8 Los Angeles Clippers.
The Spurs are in a bit of a rebuilding year, but their 34-48 record was enough to earn the final play-in spot in the West thanks in large part to the Los Angeles Lakers completely collapsing down the stretch. The Spurs lost their last three, but All-Star guard Dejounte Murray only played in one of those. He averaged 21.1 points, 9.2 assists and 8.3 rebounds on the season and was second in the NBA with 13 triple-doubles. Center Jakob Poeltl had another solid season in averaging 13.5 points and 9.3 rebounds. Gregg Popovich became the NBA’s all-time winningest coach this year and has won five NBA titles. The Spurs are 8-2 against the spread in their last 10 games versus New Orleans.
New Orleans is in the playoffs for the first time since 2018 and made it this far despite not having No. 1 overall pick Zion Williamson all season. Since being traded to New Orleans in February, McCollum is averaging 24.3 points and 5.8 assists. Center Jonas Valanciunas remains a double-double machine, averaging 17.8 points and 11.4 rebounds and has 48 playoff games of experience. New Orleans also has a solid rookie in Herb Jones, who is one of the better defenders in the league. New Orleans is 11-4-1 ATS in its past 16 as a favorite. New Orleans is coming off a 128-107 home loss to Golden State on Sunday, but they rested key players, including Brandon Ingram, Devonte Graham, Valanciunas. McCollum scored 20 points and Valanciunas had a double-double of 16 points and 12 rebounds in a 124-91 home win against the Spurs on Mar. 18.
The Spurs have done very well in New Orleans, covering seven in a row. These teams are pretty evenly matched and this line is a little too high.
Check out who Bobby Babowski has on his Free NBA Picks page for today.
Pick: Spurs +5.5
