The New Orleans Pelicans (18-12, 12-4 Home), the NBA’s top scoring team, welcome the San Antonio Spurs (10-20, 5-8 Away) on Thursday. San Antonio dominated the Houston Rockets 124-105 at Toyota Center on Monday. Devin Vassell was the key player with 26 points. The Spurs are the 14th seed in the Western Conference.
New Orleans dropped their fourth in a row on Monday at Smoothie King Center, falling to the Milwaukee Bucks 128-119. Jonas Valanciunas had 37 points, 18 rebounds, and five assists in the loss to lead the team.
The Pelicans are the fourth seed in the Western Conference, 1.5 games behind the Memphis Grizzlies. It’s the last meeting of the season between the teams.
New Orleans will be seeking a season sweep against San Antonio after coming out on top in both of their earlier meetings, the most recent of which was a 117-99 victory at AT&T Center on December 2, their third straight head-to-head victory.
Zion Williamson led the Pelicans with 30 points, 15 rebounds, and eight assists. Vassell had 25 points in defeat.The Spurs have been led this season by Keldon Johnson and Vassell, who are averaging 21.1 and 20.0 points per game, respectively. Both are among the league’s top scorers, as Johnson is No. 1 and Vassell is first.
Meanwhile, Jakob Poeltl is grabbing 9.5 rebounds per game, most in the league, and Tre Jones is dishing 6.7 assists (1st). Williamson (25.2 ppg) has supplied much of the Pels’ offense. He has the No. 1 scoring average in the league.
Valanciunas is collecting 9.3 rebounds per game, most in the league, and CJ McCollum is recording 5.8 assists (1st). The Pelicans are the top scoring offense in the league with 117.3 points per game. The teams have split their last 10 matchups at Smoothie King Center (5-5).
In the last 10 games, San Antonio is 4-6 with an average margin of -6.2 (112.5-118.7). New Orleans has gone 6-4 over the last 10, scoring 118.7 points per game on average while holding opponents to 115.1 (+3.6 margin).
SPURS HOT/COLD
(Last Five | Season Average | Differential)
Points + Rebounds + Assists:
Zach Collins: 23.5 | 17.7 | +5.8
Jakob Poeltl: 14.0 | 25.0 | -11.0
Points per game:
Jakob Poeltl: 7.5 | 12.4 | -4.9
Rebounds per game:
Zach Collins: 7.8 | 5.8 | +1.9
Jakob Poeltl: 6.0 | 9.5 | -3.5
PELICANS HOT/COLD
(Last Five | Season Average | Differential)
Points + Rebounds + Assists:
Jose Alvarado: 8.5 | 14.6 | -6.1
Points per game:
CJ McCollum: 25.8 | 18.7 | +7.1
Trey Murphy III: 8.4 | 12.2 | -3.8
Assists per game:
Zion Williamson: 6.4 | 4.7 | +1.7
SportsTips’ NBA Pick:
NO Pelicans -8.5 (-110)
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*Odds correct at time of publication, courtesy of BetMGM.
