Washington at New Orleans
Time: 7 PM CT (NBA TV)
Spread: WAS -3.5
Total: 220
Odds c/o 5dimes’
The Washington Wizards are currently seeded No. 3 in the East and trail No. 3 Cleveland by 1.5 games in the standings. Washington is 19-14 on the road where it will encounter the red-hot New Orleans Pelicans, a team currently riding a 10-game win streak.
The Wizards still find itself 3.5-point favorites over Anthony Davis and the surging Pelicans. New Orleans is 17-12 at home this season and currently seeded No. 4 in the Western Conference.
NEW ORLEANS
The New Orleans Pelicans may have lost DeMarcus Cousins for the season, but the team is surging. It has won 10-straight games and propelled team leader Anthony Davis firmly into the MVP race. Draymond Green already has praised Davis and said that he should be MVP over Houston’s James Harden. Over his past 10 games, Davis has averaged some ridiculous numbers: 35.6 points, 2.8 steals, 3.1 blocks, 13.6 rebounds in 37.7 minutes a night, while the Pelicans keep racking up wins. Davis had 41 points and 13 boards in the 121-116 win over the Clippers Mar. 6, and last outing he had 17 points, five rebounds, and five blocks in just 23 minutes in a 114-101 victory over Sacramento. The only one who seems capable of stopping Davis is himself: He is battling a sprained ankle and is considered day-to-day for tonight’s showdown. With Davis, the Pelicans likely roll, but the uncertainty in his status as Washington is currently favored.
Jrue Holiday has also been thriving during the win streak. While having disappointed early in the season, Holiday is averaging 25 points, eight assists and four rebounds over his past 10-games while also functioning as New Orleans’ lockdown perimeter defender. His defense against Giannis Antetokounmpo was exceptional in the Pelicans’ victory over Milwaukee and though just 6-foot-4, Holiday has the arms and anticipation to cover much larger opponents like the 6’11” Antetokounmpo. Holiday has stepped up with Cousins out, and the Pelicans are playing their best ball of the season. Many expect Cousins to re-sign this summer as a free agent, and New Orleans will be only stronger: This is not a case of a team better off without Cousins, at all. It is a case of a team rallying together around Davis to save a season most had written off following Cousins’ season-ending injury.
WASHINGTON WIZARDS NEWS & NOTES
The Wizards have won six of its last 10 to improve to 37-28 on the season, but there is not much intrigue or mystery behind this team. It is still a team highly dependent on its backcourt of John Wall and Bradley Beal, and a team still bereft of depth on the bench, for the most part.
Wall and Beal really have done all that could be asked of a backcourt. Beal leads the team in scoring at 23.6 points per game and Wall is good for nearly 20 a night, in addition to his 9.2 assists, but Otto Porter is still falling short of expectations and sophomore Kelly Oubre Jr. is not radically improved from his rookie season a year ago. The Wizards ultimately need to add another superstar to take any sort of monumental jump toward contention, and it may be that the team is able to make a play at DeMarcus Cousins to reunite him with his former Kentucky teammate Wall.
Outside of that, there is no reason to expect this team to do much more than be a “pretender” with the glaring holes in its roster, and the overwhelming mediocrity at 3 of the 5 positions on the court.
Former Orlando Magic player Marcin Gortat is a good center, and one of the best in the pick and roll, but Markieff Morris is an erratic head case and the Wiz’ bench is overall just poor. Another former Magic player, Jason Smith, has returned to earth some two years after his breakout season in Orlando, which now can be totally labeled a fluke, as he led the league in mid-range shooting that year.
The Wizards are still the Wizards, to be terse and dismissive of the team, once again.
