Oklahoma City Thunder vs New Orleans Pelicans Prediction & Betting Tips - NBA

Prediction published on 01/11/2023, 08:15  by Joseph King | Modified on 01/11/2023 at 08:41 in NBA Predictions

Two of the Western Conference’s dark horses face off on Wednesday night as the 3-1 OKC Thunder take on the 2-1 New Orleans Pelicans. These two teams were on the cusp of qualifying for the playoffs last season as they faced off in the play-in tournament as the ninth and tenth seeds. The Thunder, the tenth seed, upset the Pelicans in the first round of the play-in but were eventually knocked out by the eighth-seed Timberwolves. Oklahoma City will now be targeting an automatic qualification to the postseason as the team’s young roster looks to be coming along very nicely. The Thunder have started the season with three wins from their first four games with their only loss coming against the defending champions. The young Thunder were able to recover from a heavy 128-95 loss to the Nuggets with a 124-112 win over the Pistons in their latest outing. This is the third of a lengthy six-game home stand for OKC who will face the Warriors next. 

New Oreleans will be seeking revenge after their play-in loss to OKC last year with this being their first crack at them since the defeat. The Pelicans finished last year with a 42-40 season although were leading the Western Conference for a stretch earlier in the year. Now that they have a healthy team including superstar Zion Willamson, the team will be targeting a top seven seed in the conference. They come into this matchup after suffering their first loss of the season following a heavy 130-102 home loss to the Warriors on Monday. They were without Brandon Ingram in that game who is also listed as questionable to take part in Wednesday’s contest. New Orleans really struggled for consistency when playing away from home last season, winning just 15 of their 41 away trips.