CJ McCollum makes his return when the Portland Trail Blazers host the New Orleans Pelicans at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon. The game will tip at 10:00 p.m. ET and should be an exciting one to watch.
Will New Orleans spoil McCollum’s return with an NBA betting upset? Find out in our Pelicans vs. Blazers picks and predictions for Tuesday, March 16.
New Orleans Pelicans at Portland Trail Blazers betting preview
Injuries
Pelicans: G Nickeil Alexander-Walker (questionable), G JJ Redick (out)
Trail Blazers: C Jusuf Nurkic (out), F Zach Collins (out)
Find our latest NBA injury reports.
Betting trend to know
The Blazers are 8-3 ATS in their last 11 homes games against teams with losing road records. Find more NBA betting trends for Pelicans vs. Trail Blazers.
NBA sharp money and line movement report
By Patrick EversonPointsBet USA opened Portland -1.5 this morning, briefly went to -1 before returning to -1.5, then this evening went to -2, where the line stands as of 7:30 p.m. ET. Ticket count is just shy of 3/1 and money is approaching 4/1 on the Trail Blazers. The total dropped from 241 to 237.5, then rebouned to 238.5, with 59 percent of tickets on the Over and 65 percent of money on the Under.
Check out the full line movement for this game
Against the spread (ATS) pick
CJ McCollum is all set to return for the Blazers tonight. It’s likely that he’ll be eased back into things, but he is still going to make Portland a much better basketball team. Before getting hurt, McCollum was playing the best ball of his career, averaging a personal-best 26.7 points per game. The Pelicans are not a good defensive team, so it wouldn’t be too surprising if McCollum made his presence felt immediately.
With McCollum back, Damian Lillard will also benefit greatly. Sure, McCollum takes the ball out of his hands quite a bit, but he also takes some of the defensive attention off of him. Lillard will now be getting some clean looks, and this Portland offense should really start to turn it up in the second half of the season. There’s no reason that can’t start tonight, as the Blazers are facing a Pelicans team that has the third-worst defensive rating in the NBA.
New Orleans is coming off a big win over the Clippers in their last game, and Zion Williamson has been pretty much unstoppable as of late. However, beating the Blazers in Portland is going to be tough, especially with the extra energy that will come with McCollum being back.
PREDICTION: Blazers -1.5 (-110)
Over/Under pick
The Pelicans and Blazers are both in the Top 7 in offensive rating this season, so there’s really not much that can make the Over seem like the wrong play here. These teams met a month ago, when Portland earned a 126-124 victory over New Orleans.
Both of these teams get up and down the floor in a hurry, and they both have players that can be flat-out unstoppable. Also, three of the Blazers’ last four home games have gone Over the total, and the Pelicans are coming into this one on the heels of a 135-point performance against the Clippers, who are one of the best defensive teams in the league. This has shootout written all over it.
PREDICTION: Over 238.0 (-110)
Player prop pick
Brandon Ingram is averaging 23.7 points per game this season, and he is averaging 25.5 points per game over the last two games. With that said, it’s a bit surprising to see his total is so low against a Blazers team that isn’t all that special defensively.
Even if Portland wins this game, Ingram is more than capable of doing some damage, and it’s likely that he will. That makes this value seem too good to be true, but it’s still something that’s hard to lay off of.
PREDICTION: Brandon Ingram Over 22.5 Points (-118)
Pelicans vs Trail Blazers betting card
- Blazers -1.5 (-110)
- Over 238.0 (-110)
- Brandon Ingram Over 22.5 Points (-118)
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