New Orleans Pelicans vs. Portland Trail Blazers Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 3/30/2022

Time: 10 p.m. ET

Venue: Moda Center, Portland, OR

Where to watch: ROOT-SP, Bally Sports New Orleans

DraftKings: Check back later

BetMGM: Check back later

Caesars: Check back later

Pelicans: 32-43

Blazers: 27-48

The New Orleans Pelicans have decided to make things very interesting toward the end of this regular season, and they are looking like a team that will actually make the play in tournament for the NBA playoffs at the end of the season.

 

The Pelicans, with great help from the horrendous collapse of the Los Angeles Lakers, find themselves with the ninth seed in the Western Conference with seven games to play. If the season were to end today, the Pelicans would face the Los Angeles Clippers in their play in game.

 

Given the fact that the schedule very much favors the Pelicans down the stretch, this matchup on Wednesday against the Portland Trail Blazers should serve as an appetizing necessity for New Orleans. The Pelicans have a one game advantage over the San Antonio Spurs for the ninth seed, and the Lakers as well after Los Angeles got run out of Dallas without LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

 

Once again, I would like to reiterate that we are in a timeline where the Pelicans could make the playoffs while the Lakers miss it. We are in the weirdest of endgames the likes of which we have never seen in this lexicon. Please brace yourselves and head for the nearest bunker when readily available.

 

The Pelicans are, in fact, coming off a 116-108 victory over said Lakers on Sunday in a triumphant return for Brandon Ingram after missing 10 games with a strained hamstring. And what a time to do it against the team that drafted him and moved on from him in favor of a guy who isn’t even playing right now. 

 

The Pelicans rallied from a 23-point deficit to come back and win by eight after outscoring the Lakers 67-41 another sign in which the world of the Lakers should be crashing down at every envious moment. Ingram finished with 26 points.

 

"I've been out for three weeks, and to be back and win in this fashion with all my brothers, it's special," Ingram said. "It shows we believe in each other. ... When winning is the mentality good things come to you and great things came to us tonight."

 

Given that LeBron’s ankle is in shambles right now, the Pelicans have the golden ticket to make the playoffs and the San Antonio Spurs have the fast track to keep Los Angeles out of the picture. What a time to be alive.

 

The Blazers are not mathematically eliminated from playoff contention but a loss to New Orleans and another Spurs win could conceivably knock them out barring an unmitigated collapse. The nightmare season for Portland, its first under Chauncey Billups, has nearly gone up in smoke without Damian Lillard.

 

But this will be the first time the Blazers face the Pelicans since trading CJ McCollum to New Orleans at the trade deadline. McCollum was Lillard’s running mate in Portland since 2013 and now he’s tasked with spearheading a Big Three involving Ingram and, one day, Zion Williamson.

 

"I think it's going to be so much fun for everybody to have CJ back in the building. He's probably going to be overwhelmed with all the love that he gets from our locker room, the fans. It's much deserved," head coach Chauncey Billups said. "So I'm happy to see him. I'm not happy to game-plan for him, obviously."

 

Any chance of Portland making a magical playoff run continues to evaporate with each loss. The Blazers have lost four straight and are coming off a 134-131 overtime defeat to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday. Drew Eubanks, who was just signed the other day, finished with 27 points and 14 rebounds on one hell of an impressive display, and Ben McLemore even finished with a team-high 28 points. 

 

But all but one player scored in double figures for Oklahoma City, led by a career-high 30 points from Isaiah Roby.

 

"Boy, we played hard. We played our butts off. Had our opportunities, but kind of lost focus at some really important times," Billups said.

If Lillard was healthy, I’d give them a puncher’s chance for a solid run. But we’ve learned once before that New Orleans can get a wild crowd in that building come playoff time. It won’t get to that level yet, but the crowd can sense that this group is going to get a chance to play in the postseason, and it’ll need to defeat a struggling team that’s lost to San Antonio, Houston twice, and now Oklahoma City. A healthy New Orleans team won’t be any better for them. Pelicans by 14

The Pelicans are 15-12 ATS as a road favorite the past three seasons.

The over is 33-16 when the Pelicans win four or five of their last six in the past three seasons.

The Blazers are 8-19 ATS this season when playing six games or more in 10 days.

PG: CJ McCollum

SG: Brandon Ingram

SF: Herbert Jones

PF: Jaxson Hayes

C: Jonas Valanciunas

PG: Brandon Williams

SG: CJ Elleby

SF: Elijah Hughes

PF: Keon Johnson

C: Drew Eubanks

Pelicans: Zion Williamson (foot, out), Larry Nance Jr. (day-to-day)

Blazers: Damian Lillard (abdomen, out), Eric Bledsoe (Achilles, out), Josh Hart (knee, out), Anfernee Simons (quad, out), Jusuf Nurkic (foot, out), 

Points: Brandon Ingram -- 22.9

Rebounds: Jonas Valanciunas -- 11.6

Assists: Brandon Ingram -- 5.5

Points: Damian Lillard -- 24.0

Rebounds: Jusuf Nurkic -- 11.1

Assists: Damian Lillard -- 7.3