Oklahoma City Thunder vs. New Orleans Pelicans Picks, Predictions, Odds

Michael Crosson Sports Betting Expert

4 minute read

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The NBA Play-In Tournament resumes on Wednesday night with a win-or-go-home Western Conference matchup between the Oklahoma City Thunder and New Orleans Pelicans. Coverage begins from the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans at 9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.

OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER vs. NEW ORLEANS PELICANS BETTING PREDICTION

Part of what makes the NBA Play-In Tournament so great is the fact that we get to see teams that would otherwise never see the light of day in the postseason under previous formats receive one last shot at redemption, and nobody deserves another shot more than these two squads.

The Pelicans stormed out to a triumphant start to the year, and they were hailed as one of the best teams in basketball until the inevitable happened, injuries to both Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram that would send their campaign on a downward trajectory for months to come.

Ingram returned to the lineup at the tail end of January, though, and since that point, the Pelicans have slowly gotten back on track, to the point where now, they’re 9-3 in their last 12 games, while ranking 3rd in the league in net rating during that span (+10.2 NetRtg); and while there’s no denying the fact that this squad’s capabilities are much lower in the absence of Williamson, they are playing excellent basketball at the moment. 

While on the other hand, the Thunder have played an inspiring brand of basketball all year. After finishing 14th in the West in back-to-back seasons, this young Oklahoma City’ team finally strung together a solid campaign, finishing 10th in the conference with a record of 40-42, while ranking in the top half of the league in net rating (+1.1 NetRtg).

The Thunder have been stockpiling high draft picks for years now, and for the first time, their wealth of young talent has finally come to fruition in the form of the Play-In Tournament bid, an honorable feat for this squad indeed. However, this is a matchup between squads with very different levels of intent.

At full strength, the Pelicans believe that they can compete with top shelf contenders in the West, which they’ve shown glimpses of from time-to-time, but nobody knows if that’s truly the case or not because this squad is literally never healthy by the time the playoffs roll around, and they aren’t healthy heading into this one.

What we do know, though, is that the Pelicans still have most of the pieces necessary to form an excellent team as long as the bulk of their lineup is on the floor alongside Ingram. So, I expect them to handle business at home in Wednesday’s do-or-die matchup against a Thunder squad that’s posted a record of 16-25 on the road this season.

Score Prediction: Pelicans 118, Thunder 108
Best Bet: Pelicans -5.5 (-110)

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OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER vs. NEW ORLEANS PELICANS BETTING ODDS

OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER vs. NEW ORLEANS PELICANS BETTING RESOURCES

Date: Wednesday, April 12, 2023
Venue: Smoothie King Center
Location: New Orleans, Louisiana
TV-Time: ESPN, 9:30 p.m. ET
Matchup
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OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER vs. NEW ORLEANS PELICANS BETTING STATS

Oklahoma City Thunder
SU: 40-42
ATS: 46-35-1
O/U: 46-35-1
PPG: 117.5
OPPG: 116.4

New Orleans Pelicans
SU: 42-40
ATS: 39-42-1
O/U: 38-44
PPG: 114.4
OPPG: 112.5

Straight Up (SU), Against the Spread (ATS), Over-Under (O/U)
Points Per Game (PPG), Opponents Points Per Game (OPPG)

Updated on 05/20/2024

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OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER vs. NEW ORLEANS PELICANS BETTING TRENDS

• The Thunder are 2-8 ATS in their last ten games.
• The total has gone UNDER in six of Oklahoma City's last nine games.
• The Thunder are 10-4 ATS in their last 14 games against New Orleans.
• The Pelicans are 8-3-1 ATS in their last 12 games.
• The total has gone UNDER in 10 of New Orleans' last 13 games.
• The Pelicans are 9-3 SU in their last 12 games.
• The Pelicans are 5-1 SU in their last six home games.
• The Thunder are 2-4 SU in their last six games against New Orleans.
• The Thunder are 1-5 ATS in their last six road games.
• The Thunder are 6-0 ATS in their last six road games against New Orleans.

Michael Crosson

Michael Crosson began his time at VegasInsider as a freelance NBA writer back in 2019 while he continued to study Psychology and Biology at James Madison University. Following his graduation in 2021, Michael joined the team full-time, and he's been with VI ever since. Michael still writes NBA, NFL, and MLB for VI, as well as gambling industry news. He's also become a crucial part of our editorial production team. More from Michael Crosson