NBA Basketball: New Orleans Pelicans VS Golden State Warriors Pick and Predictions 03/03/2023

Game: 10:10 PM ET,  Friday, March 3rd, 2023

Venue: Chase Center, San Francisco, California

TV:  NBA League Pass

Pelicans: 31-32, 10th place Western Conference

Warriors: 33-30, 5th place Western Conference

BetMGM:  Point Spread: Warriors -5.5, O/U 230.5

PointsBet: Point Spread: Warriors -4, O/U 230

Fanduel: Point Spread:  Warriors -4.5, O/U 230.5

Pelicans: PG CJ MCCollum, SG Brandon Ingram, SF Trey Murphy III, PF Herbert Jones, C Jonas Valanciunas (day to day)

Warriors: PG Jordan Poole, SG Klay Thompson, SF Donte DiVincenzo, PF Draymond Green, C Kevon Looney

A Western Conference battle for blood.  The Pelicans are grabbing at the last chances for their season… It feels just out of reach.  The Pelicans are in 10th place with the Lakers pushing at them from underneath and the teams above them refusing to buckle.  They need wins and they need them now… They also need PF Zion Williamson to finally play for their team.  Its hard to get a bead on what anyone else is thinking… But we can all say with certainty that if we went back in time 4 seasons with what we know now… The Pelicans would have traded the #1 pick that led to Zion AND kept Julius Randle who they let walk after a single season.  4 years later we are still waiting for the often hurt Zion to become a permanent addition to the roster.  This waiting has killed what could have been a great team.  The Golden State Warriors pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes this year.  They are the NBAs defending Champs and they spent the first half of the season looking like Chumps who could get nothing done.  They were mired in the lower echelon of the Western Conference and stayed there long enough for everyone to write them off… BUT WAIT a recent spate of winning has led to a rise in the standings… All the way to 5th… with only a few wins to get to 4th.  They are still a loaded roster with 3 future Hall of Famers and a quality bench.  They have been winning without their best player Steph Curry who will return in time for the postseason.  They pulled the ol’ “Defending Champs Posing as Underdogs!” The great betting opportunity here is in judging the last ten games and the momentum we are all a part of.

The New Orleans Pelicans have won 5 of their last 10 games.  Going 4-6 ATS.  They won their last game against the Portland Trail Blazers 121-110 which helped them snap a 4-game losing streak.  In the win they got 40 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists from SF Brandon Ingram… A guy who is overlooked in the national discussion but could be a superstar if he keeps the upward trajectory he has been on. They also got 24 points from SG CJ McCollum who has often been playing PG for the Pelicans. Former High first round draft pick Kira Lewis JR came in for 12 minutes of playing time and scored 3 points on 1 of 3 shooting… I bring that up because that pick should have been traded along with C Jaxon Hayes two years ago when they were both much more valuable!  (there was a trade on the blocks that could have landed an actual star at PG but the Pelicans didn’t pull the trigger).

The Golden State Warriors have won 6 of their last 10 games… and are on a killer 4-game winning streak.  They won their last game against the Los Angeles Clippers 115-91.  In the win they got 34 points from SG/PG Jordan Poole and 19 points each from Klay Thompson and bench forward Jonathan Kuminga… The Warriors are coming alive as Poole and Kuminga are the duo that the Warriors need to produce!  PF Draymond Green nabbed 11 points, 9 rebounds, and 9 assists… a truly spectacular stat line if you consider that his purpose on the court is to play defense to support all those shooters.  Draymond is still the key.

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Our prediction for Friday, March 3rd is…. Warriors 119 - Pelicans 111

Bet on the Warriors.  They are at home.. They have been killing the game.  There is no reason the struggling Pelicans who can only point to a recent win over a near last place Trail Blazers can stop this runaway train.

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The Warriors are 2-0 ATS versus the Pelicans in Golden State the last 3 seasons.

The Pelicans are 3-12 ATS as an underdog of 3.5 to 9.5 points this season.

The Warriors are 10-3 ATS as a favorite of 6 points or less this season.

Pelicans: SF Brandon Ingram.  Brandon joins Shai Gilgeous Alexander as this generations bungled trades.  They both went out from different Los Angeles teams with 6 picks and multiple other players attached to them… they both were moved so the team trading them could land ONE single multiple time all-star.  Both are currently better than the all-star they were traded for… Imagine what could have been?... If BOTH those LA teams still had these guys and their picks?!

Pelicans: Willie “Let’s start playing already!” Green

Warriors: Steve “Lord of the Rings” Kerr