Golden State Warriors vs New Orleans Pelicans Prediction, Odds and Picks for Today, 11/22/24

The Golden State Warriors and New Orleans Pelicans will meet for the third time this season Friday night. The Warriors won both of the first two games between these teams. Golden State defeated the Pelicans 124-106 and 104-89 in the two contests. This will be the first time the Warriors and Pelicans are playing in New Orleans. This will also be the third NBA Cup game played by each team. The Warriors are 2-0 and lead group C, while the Pelicans are 1-1. The Warriors are coming into this game hot, winning 9 of their last 11 games. The Pelicans have been on the opposite side of the spectrum, losing 9 of their last 10 and 3 straight losses. The Warriors are generally healthy heading into this matchup, while the Pelicans will be without Zion Williamson, CJ McCollum, Dejounte Murray, Herbert Jones, Jose Alvarado, and potentially Brandon Ingram.

The Pelicans have struggled to find offense with so many starters benched with injuries. What may be the most telling for the Pelican’s current situation is to look at the success they had in a 128-100 loss to Cleveland on Wednesday. Rookie guard Antonio Reeves was asked to play 40 minutes and scored 34 points. Despite this unexpected outcome the Pelicans still lost by nearly 30. I don’t see where else the Pelicans can turn towards for offense. It shows in the numbers. The Pelicans have only managed to score 100 points per game in their last 10 games, the lowest in the NBA in that time frame. With how well the Warriors have played and scored the basketball, I foresee another blowout loss for the Pelicans.

Warriors -9.5 available at the time of publishing. Playable at that number.