New Orleans Pelicans vs Portland Trail Blazers Betting Tips & Prediction - NBA 2024-25

With two squads on very different ends of their rebuilds, they faceoff against each other in an early season game. This game will be played on Saturday, October 26th at 5:00 A.M. IST in Portland. Below are our odds, predictions, and lineups for the match. 

New Orleans Pelicans vs Portland Trail Blazers Betting Odds
 

New Orleans Pelicans vs Portland Trail Blazers Match Preview 

The New Orleans Pelicans opened their season with a victory over the Chicago Bulls and looked like a great offensive unit under Willie Green. Expecting to get Zion Williamson back as well, they did a great job with Brandon Ingram, 33 points against Chicago, to fill into the main scoring role. His ability to make pump-fake jump shots and rebound has given this team a lot to work with as he created a great duo with CJ McCollum. Someone who is known as a great spot-up three-point shooter, his 23 points were key as he hit clutch corner shots throughout. With Jose Alvarado, 3 points with 3 assists in the opener, starting at point guard due to the Dejounte Murray injury, this group hopes to move him along as one of the best, short defenders in the league. With no Trey Murphy III either, Jordan Hawkins, 13 points with 7 rebounds, really proved that he can be a replacement for him now. When everyone gets healthy, this Pelicans team could finally put everything together and have their best season after a while. 

Meanwhile, the Portland Trail Blazer's main goal is just the developmental process under head coach Chauncey Billups. Having Scoot Henderson, 22 points, starting to show he could shoot well on an NBA court, he is one of the positives on this very young and inexperienced group. Seeing Toumani Camara, 11 points with 6 rebounds, step into the forward role and slowly develop as a stretch-four, could help create more offense as Shaedeon Sharpe comes back from injury. The newly acquired Deni Avdija, 15 points with 7 rebounds, actually played pretty well even though he didn’t live up to the expectations on the defensive end. A group that has a young stud in Anfernee Simmons, 15 points, really creating a backcourt with Henderson before Sharpe comes back, could build their chemistry and they could have three top-notch shooters in the future. Hoping for Donovan Clingan to really grow as a player, this Portland team will take a while till they are at their top levels. 

New Orleans Pelicans vs Portland Trail Blazers Starting Lineups 

New Orleans Pelicans Starting 5 -  Jose Alvarado(PG), CJ McCollum(SG), Brandon Ingram(SF), Zion Williamson(PF), Herbert Jones(C)

Bench- Yves Missi(C), Antonio Reeves(PG), Jordan Hawkins(PF), Daniel Theis(C), Javonte Green(SF/PF), Karlo Matkovic(PF), Jeremiah Robinson-Earl(PF), Trey Jeminson(C) 

Portland Trail Blazers Starting 5 - Scoot Henderson(PG), Anfernee Simons(SG), Deni Avdija(SF), Jerami Grant(PF), Deandre Ayton(C)

Bench - Dalano Baton(SG/PF/SF), Donovan Clingan(C), Kris Murray(SG/PF), Toumani Camara(SF), Jabari Walker(PF/C), Rayan Rupert(PG/SG)

New Orleans Pelicans vs Portland Trail Blazers Betting Tips

Total Match Points Over 218.5- As this game features one very solid defense in the Pelicans, they can stop the Blazers from scoring a lot and carry the total of this game by a huge margin. The 2nd to last time these two squads played, the combined total was 177 points and even though it will be way higher than that, it won’t be something crazy. 

Total Points in the First Half Over 108.5  - With both squads being near the bottom in 1st half scoring last year when they were fully healthy, it will stay somewhat similar to last season. As their combined score was 87, it will be a little over that but not by a tremendous amount. 

Pelicans Score Over 110 Points During Whole Game- As the Pelicans offense has found more cohesion heading into this year, they can easily score a lot against a struggling Blazers team. Over their previous 4 matchups vs Portland, the Pelicans have scored 110 or more points and should be somewhere around there again.

New Orleans Pelicans vs Portland Trail Blazers Match Prediction 

As the Pelicans enter this game with a great offensive performance without Zion Williamson, getting him back will help them further attack this Trail Blazers defense. As the Pelicans have won 5 in a row with and without their stars, having a fully healthy squad should help them dominate. Even without Dejounte Murray, having CJ McCollum in the backcourt will cause Anfernee Simmons to put extra effort on him. As Simmons has struggled on defense a lot throughout his career, Deni Avdija will do his best to support him. But, the biggest issue with that is Zion Williamson will be driving down the lane and if he runs past Scoot it will be easy for him to attack someone like De’Andre Ayton in the paint. With this ball movement that Jose Alvardo can provide, Brandon Ingram can easily get through Jerami Grant for scoring purposes. Including the fact that Herb Jones will return to guard Ayton, he could cause him to take his strong part of the game away. The Blazers could keep this game close if Donovan Clingan improves a rebounder and Scoot Henderson plays Simmons fire away from three.

Our Prediction- New Orleans Pelicans to Win