Filip Tomic
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It’s a massive game tonight at the Smoothie King Center as the LA Lakers and New Orleans Pelicans wrap up their regular season series. Both teams’ playoff position still hasn’t been determined, setting up an intriguing clash. Tip-off is at 3.30 pm ET on ESPN, to spice things up I’ve prepared a Same Game Parlay which you can find below.
For predictions on the side and total for the rest of Sunday’s 15-game slate simply visit our NBA Picks page.
Let’s dive into my SGP bet now!
Lakers ML (+142)
C.J. McCollum Over 22.5 points (-115)
Rui Hachimura Over 1.5 made threes (-106)
Same Game Parlay odds: +557
Lakers ML (+142)
The Lakers lead the regular-season series 2-1, neither of the 3 contests were close. Both LeBron James and Anthony Davis played over 40 minutes in the win over Memphis and had big games, but with their season potentially on the line here I expect them to once again produce at a high level. Finishing 8th is a much better option because it gives you a 2nd chance after a potential loss in the 7 vs 8 play-in match-up.
This Pelicans team has been questioned all year long and for good reason. Consistency is one of the main things they’ve not been able to master just yet, mostly due to injuries. Brandon Ingram is not yet back from his knee issue, they could definitely use a 20+ point per game scorer to help their case here. NOLA is just 1-4 ATS in 5 home games, the Lakers stomped them in the In-Season Tournament semis and now their season could be decided against the same team.
C.J. McCollum Over 22.5 points (-115)
C.J. McCollum has been the definition of a player stepping up when his team needs him the most. In his last 10 games he’s upped his average to 27.3 points per game, compared to his season average of 20 a night. He’s led his team in scoring for the past 5 of 6 games, while clearing this line in all 6 of them. The absence of Brandon Ingram has been tough on the Pels, but when McCollum is producing at such a high level they have nothing to worry about. All 3 meetings between the Pels and Lakers have been high paced, this could be the case with Sunday’s game as well, so I’m expecting McCollum to carry his team offensively. In his last 2 against LA he has scored 19 and 22 points, I think 25 is a realistic goal for him here — in a losing effort.
Rui Hachimura Over 1.5 made threes (-106)
Hachimura has emerged as the leading Lakers reserve over the past 10 games, averaging 18.6 points per game and shooting the lights out with 58% efficiency from the field and 50% from three-point land. With the Pelicans focusing mostly on AD and LeBron, he could once again have a big game here. In the 3 meetings he’s averaged 12.3 points per game in just 22 mins per game, while shooting an insane 65% from the field and 37% from downtown. New Orleans does have the NBA’s best perimeter defense, but over their last 3 games they’ve slipped quite a bit allowing opponents to shoot 38.2% which is quite the drop-off from their season average of 34.9%. With the stakes being high I have no doubt Hachimura will step up his game even further and lead the Lakers reserves in scoring on Sunday. He has drained 2 threes in 3 consecutive games and is averaging 2 makes per game in the month of April.
