New Orleans Pelicans vs Portland Trail Blazers Prediction: Two unimposing teams

The dash toward the NBA postseason has picked up more than ever before and teams can’t afford to slack at this stage. With few games remaining under the belt, the prospect of making a winning run is collapsing and for the teams that have underperformed in the second half of the season, this is the most crucial team. In this game, two such teams the New Orleans Pelicans and Portland Trail Blazers will collide.

The Pels come into this game after suffering a 96:110 loss against the Thunder despite a 26 points and 8 assists performance by CJ McCollum. Brandon Ingram was ruled out for this game so the team was once again massively short-handed. They have lost three out of their last four affairs. The Pels have lost seven of their last nine games and since Williamson has been injured, their performance has taken a dramatic downturn, from being a 65% win team to a below 50% win squad. Ingram has also been regularly injured and despite having a scorer like CJ McCollum and a tight center Jonas Valancinas, injuries have taken away the team’s juice.

Portland enters the affair after losing 119:120 against the 76ers despite a 34 points outing by Anfernee Simons. They have lost two straight and five of their last seven games in another underwhelming campaign. Because of these regular disturbances, they are now five games under the 50% win with 31 wins and 36 losses. Damian Lillard is having another stunning scoring season but the support around him has collapsed. Their woes were complicated when Guard Anfernee Simons got injured for a handful of days and their lack of bench depth has also halted their progress. Portland has a promising trio of Lillard, Simons, and Jerami Grant, but they need much more depth.

• Pelicans: OUT: Zion Williamson, Jose Alvarado, Larry Nance. Game-Time Decision: Brandon Ingram;
• Trail Blazers: OUT: Ibou Bandji, Justise Winslow. QUESTIONABLE: Ryan Arcidiacono. PROBABLE: Damian Lillard.

The Pels played last night and suffered a heavy defeat against the Thunder which was also a result of the team once again not having Wing talent Brandon Ingram. The Trail Blazers’ chances hinge largely upon Ingram’s availability for the Pels but even his availability has not made a difference at times. Therefore, I expect the Lillard-led Trail Blazers to explode here and take a big win here. I predict a scoreline of 124:110 in Portland’s favor.