We have an interesting NBA game on Thursday night as the Charlotte Hornets will be taking on the New Orleans Pelicans. The Pelicans come into this one playing some below-average basketball on the season, and it’s been a major disappointment.
Charlotte, on the other hand, was expected to struggle this season, and that’s been the case all year long. They come into this one at 23-50 and are essentially out of the playoff race unless a miracle happened for them in the next few weeks.
The Pelicans, however, are still the 12th seed in the Western Conference and are hopeful that they can work their magic throughout the next few weeks. They will need to win these types of games against teams that are much lesser than them. They’re just 0.5 games out of the play-in spot behind the Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers.
Huge Game for the Pelicans
Obviously, most of the struggles this season for the New Orleans Pelicans have been due to their injuries. Whether that’s Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram, or others, the Pelicans’ inability to stay healthy has been a major part of this team’s struggles this year.
There have been rumors that Zion Williamson could be returning to the team within the next few weeks and that’s perfect news for them. Not only can that help fuel them once he does come back, but that confidence might be able to help them now. Knowing that your top player is going to be coming back in a few weeks is major as the team will now want to make sure that they’re playing their best basketball to give them a chance to get into the playoffs.
This is also the first game of a tough upcoming stretch for them as they will be taking on the Clippers twice and the Golden State Warriors in two of their next four games. This could be the last game on their schedule that’s an easy win.
Hornets Are Done
The Charlotte Hornets season is over at this point in the year, and unless something drastically does change, they can pretty much start getting ready for the off-season. We could even see them deciding to sit some of their top players in some of these games just to make sure that these guys are healthy throughout the offseason and can get their work in.
They’ve also dealt with some tough injuries this season as Lamelo Ball has been out for most of the year. Lamelo played in just 36 games this season and won’t play in another one for the remainder of the year.
The past few years for the Hornets have been a major disappointment and that didn’t change at all this year. The team has some talent but has failed to do anything at 23-50 and 9.5 games back of the 10th-place Chicago Bulls.
Charlotte Hornets vs New Orleans Prediction
Although the line in this game is a bit interesting given the fact that the Pelicans really shouldn’t be an 8-point favorite against anybody, taking them to win this game by eight points doesn’t seem like a bad idea. I expect that this team is going to be much better in the coming weeks as they realize that they’re getting Zion Williamson back and that’s going to fuel them to the playoffs.
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