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Reggie Jackson and the Los Angeles Clippers will open up a quick two-game road trip on Thursday night against Brandon Ingram and the New Orleans Pelicans. This is the third time that these two teams have played each other with the Pelicans leading the season series 2-0.
In their last meeting, the Pelicans defeated the Clippers 123-104 on Nov. 29 at Crypto.com Arena. New Orleans veteran center Jonas Valanciunas dominated Los Angeles’ frontcourt with a career-high 39 points and 15 rebounds. We’ll go over some ideal picks on DraftKings Sportsbook centered around the game here.
Clippers vs. Pelicans, 8:00 p.m. ET
Pick ATS: Clippers +3.5
The Clippers enter tonight’s game on a two-game winning streak after defeating the Denver Nuggets 87-85 on Tuesday. Los Angeles has not had their superstar players in Paul George and Kawhi Leonard due to injury, which has led to other guys on the roster stepping up. Los Angeles has not fared well on the road this season with a record of 7-9. The Clippers are 8-8 against the spread on the road, but are an unflattering 0-5 ATS in their last five games.
As for the Pelicans, they picked up a nice win at home the other day against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Ingram hit a game-winning three-pointer to give New Orleans a 128-125 win. The one-time All-Star had a game-high 33 points (11-19 FG, 6-7 3pt), along with nine assists, and four rebounds.
New Orleans is 6-2 against the spread in their last eight home games and 3-1 ATS when they are the home favorite this season. It’s tough to know how this game is going to play out, but I can see the Clippers keeping it close as they have the fifth-best scoring defense.
Over/Under: Under 215
In the two games that the Pelicans and Clippers have played each other, the total points scored were 227 and 175. I doubt we see more than 227 points scored tonight, especially if the Clippers’ defense shows up. However, the total has gone over in six of the Pelicans’ last nine games. But neither team has been great when it comes to overs this season. Take the under.
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