New Orleans Pelicans vs Dallas Mavericks Prediction, Odds and Picks for Today, 11/19/24

Despite being down several key players, the New Orleans Pelicans have showed they still have a lot of character in them and have been in games lately. They even beat the Denver Nuggets a couple of days ago, granted they were without Nikola Jokic but still. They’re double-digit underdogs vs Dallas here, as they look to win their 2nd Emirates NBA Cup game in a row. This team has started to gel together, as the replacements are finally getting used to playing each other. They just pushed the Lakers to the brink, only to lose by 5 points in the end.

After 4 consecutive losses by just 1 possessions, the Mavericks finally bounced back with back-to-back wins over San Antonio and OKC. The win over the Thunder was particularly impressive as they did it without Luka Doncic. He is once again questionable here with a knee problem and although they just beat OKC, without him the Mavs were just 4-8 SU last season. Despite the 2 game win streak, I still have a hard time trusting this team. The loss at Utah was not a good look for a team trying to get back to the NBA Finals.

New Orleans might not have the flashy names on paper right now, but they are showing a lot more passion than other teams do, playing as underdogs on a nightly basis. If they can keep the pace somewhat slow here I give them a chance to keep things close. Back the Pels and the extra points.

Pelicans +11 is available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.