NBA: Memphis Grizzlies vs. New Orleans Pelicans Preview, Odds, Prediction

The Memphis Grizzlies visit the New Orleans Pelicans this Tuesday night. Taylor Jenkins’ unit is one of few in the NBA league with 40 or more wins, and they want to keep on racking up victories. On the other side, the Pelicans executed a trade that landed CJ McCollum, and they will try to make a push for the play-in tournament. NO is currently 11th in the West and needs to improve in order to climb that one spot higher.

Preview

Memphis Grizzlies (40-19, -145) have five straight wins right now. They are on the road for some time, and four of those recent five triumphs were away from Memphis. The first was in NY against the Knicks, then Orlando, before triumphing in Detroit and Charlotte.

We’ve seen the Grizzlies defeat the Hornets at Spectrum Center, 125-118, enduring a hard push of the hosts in the final period. They had a solid shooting percentage, 49%, and have outscored the rivals from inside the paint, 72-50.

Ja Morant had 26 points with six boards and six assists, while Desmond Bane had 25 buckets, five rebounds and four steals. Jaren Jackson Jr. ended the game with a double-double, 18 points, and 10 rebounds, the same as Steven Adams, who had 15 points and 11 boards, eight of them offensive.

New Orleans Pelicans (23-34, +120) are 5-5 over the last 10 games. Their most recent clash was at home against the Toronto Raptors, whom they defeated 120-90, surprising the majority of the NBA community. It was a breath of fresh air after back-to-back losses at home against the Heat and the Spurs.

The Pels limited Raptors to just 30.5% of shooting, while on the other side, they had a fantastic 58.4%. Also, they had a big dominance under the rim, dropping 50 points from the paint and allowing 36. All this resulted in a 30-point win, arguably the biggest for the Pels in quite some time.

CJ McCollum was excellent with 23 points and five assists, dropping five threes as well. Jonas Valanciunas was one board short of a double-double, scoring 18 points too, while Jaxson Hayes entered off the bench to deliver 14 points, missing only one of his seven shots from the field. Brandon Ingram had just 10 points, but contributed with 11 rebounds and eight assists.

Head to Head Games

We’ve seen these two teams meeting already once this season. That was on November 13 in Memphis, when the Pelicans surprised the hosts and won, 112-101. Nickel Alexander-Walker had 21 points, Ingram had 19 and Herbert Jones 17 for the guests. Brooks dropped 23 for the hosts, and Morant had 22 buckets, with 10 assists and nine boards.

Prediction

In our opinion, the Grizzlies are the favorites, and they should defeat the Pels. Even with McCollum involved, New Orleans is still at least one class below Memphis, who plays superbly this season. That loss at the FedEx forum will be a massive motive for the Grizzlies, and our suggestion here is to go with the guests’ victory and them covering a 5.5-point spread.

Pick: Grizzlies -5.5