NBA Picks 3/10 – New Orleans Pelicans @ Atlanta Hawks

NBA Picks 3/10 – New Orleans Pelicans @ Atlanta Hawks

by Thomas Quaynor for Wannamakeabet.com

The New Orleans Pelicans (38-25) visit the Atlanta Hawks (29-34) tonight at State Farm Arena. New Orleans is a 7-point favorite and the total is 223. Both teams enter tonight’s game with identical three-game winning streaks. This is the second and final meeting between these teams, Atlanta hammered New Orleans 123-105 on Nov. 4 led by Trae Young’s 22 points and 12 assists. New Orleans is coming off a 103-95 win at Philadelphia on Friday night as Zion Williamson stuffed the stat sheet with 23 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 blocks and 2 steals. New Orleans has won 9 of their last 11 road games. Atlanta won at Memphis 99-92 on Friday night as Dejounte Murray tied a career-high with 41 points on 17-25 shooting from the field. 

GAME STORYLINES: NEW ORLEANS

During the 2018-19 season, a number of teams made the decision to tank that season in order to land athletic forward Zion Williamson, who was considered a once-in-a-generation talent. Zion’s awe-inspiring dunks in high school and AAU made him a social media sensation before he even entered college. The New Orleans Pelicans finished 33-49 in 2019 and seemed like a longshot to win the lottery. They had just a 6 percent chance of getting the number one overall pick but they defied the odds, and ended up winning the draft lottery in May 2019. New Orleans went on to select Zion Williamson with the No. 1 pick in the draft a month later, and it was assumed that Williamson would immediately catapult New Orleans into title contention with his astronomical leaping ability, powerful frame and dominant post play. 

Unfortunately for New Orleans, Zion Williamson’s first four seasons in the NBA have only garnered one playoff appearance in 2021-22 and one winning season last year as Zion has spent more time off the court than on it due to injuries. The one playoff appearance was when Zion missed the entire season due to a fractured foot. His NBA career has also been marred by weight issues and a highly publicized relationship mishap off the court during this past offseason. Zion played a total of 114 games over his first four NBA seasons and he was being viewed as one of the biggest disappointments in NBA draft history. 

Everything appears to be coming together for Zion Williamson in year five as he’s played in 52 of New Orleans 63 games, and the team is off to their best start since the 2008-09 season. The 23-year-old Williamson is averaging a team-high 22 points per game, along with 5.6 rebounds and 5.2 assists while shooting 57.5 percent from the floor. His 12 rebounds and 3 blocks in Friday’s win at Philadelphia were both season highs. Zion’s scoring and rebounding numbers are down slightly from his first four years but the fact that he’s been available for the entire season more than makes up for it. As the saying goes, availability is the best ability, and that applies tenfold for a player with the spectacular attributes of Zion Williamson. 

Forward Brandon Ingram (21.6 pts, 5.8 asts, 5 rebs, 49.4% from 2), veteran shooting guard CJ McCollum (18.5 pts, 4.4 asts, 4.3 rebs, 1stl, 45.5% from 2, 41.4% from 3) and center Jonas Valanciunas (13.3 pts, 9.5 rebs, 1blk, 56.5% from 2) have played big roles in keeping New Orleans respectable while Zion Williamson has dealt with injuries over the last few seasons. The 26-year-old Ingram is a former All-Star and is averaging over 20 ppg for the fifth straight season. The 31-year-old McCollum has averaged over 20 ppg in each of the last 8 seasons. The trio led New Orleans to the playoffs when Zion missed the entire 2021-22 season and are excellent complimentary pieces alongside Zion as they compete for home court advantage in the tough Western Conference. 

GAME STORYLINES: ATLANTA

The Atlanta Hawks appeared to be a team on the rise after a 41-31 finish during the abbreviated 2020-21 season earned them the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference Playoffs, they made a surprising run to the Conference Finals where they fell to the Milwaukee Bucks in six games. Superstar guard Trae Young averaged 28.8 points and 9.5 assists across 18 games during those 2021 playoffs. Unfortunately, Atlanta has not come close to replicating the success they had during the 2021 playoffs as the last two and a half years have brought a lot of disappointment. The 2022 and 2023 seasons ended with first round playoff exit. The addition of All-Star guard Dejounte Murray prior to the 2022-23 season and the firing of head coach Nate McMillan in February 2023 did not improve things for Atlanta. 

The current season is not going well for the Atlanta Hawks as they now find themselves 5 games below .500 at 29-34 and are in a precarious position of being locked in as the 10th seed in the Eastern Conference, which means they aren’t good enough to make noise in the playoffs but aren’t quite bad enough to tank the rest of the season. To make matters worse, All-Star guard Trae Young suffered a torn ligament in his left pinkie finger during a Feb. 23 loss to Toronto. He will be out for at least the next three weeks. Young was averaging 26.4 points, 10.8 assists and 1.4 steals across 51 games, he was named an All-Star for the third time in his career this season.

With Trae Young out for the foreseeable future, Atlanta will need to lean on former All-Star Dejounte Murray (21.8 pts, 5.7 asts, 5.3 rebs, 1.3 stls, 46.7% from 2), shooting guard Bogdan Bogdanovic (16.6 pts, 3.3 rebs, 1.2 stls), along with forwards Jalen Johnson (15.7 pts, 8.6 rebs, 3.4 asts, 1.1 stls, 52.2% from 2) and De’Andre Hunter (15.4 pts, 3.7 rebs, 48.1% from 2, 42.6% from 3) to carry the scoring load. Murray’s scoring and assists have gone up since Trae Young has been out, he scored a season-best 41 points along with 7 rebounds and 6 assists in Atlanta’s last game at Memphis. The veteran sharpshooter Bogdanovic has replaced Young in the starting lineup. The 22-year-old Johnson is enjoying a breakout season in year 3, he’s raised his averages from 5.6 ppg and 4.0 rpg in 2022-23 to 15.7 ppg and 8.6 rpg this season. 

Atlanta also has a very good twin-tower post combo in veteran center Clint Capella (11.1 pts, 10.3 rebs, 1.5 blks, 55.8% from 2) and 23-year-old Onyeka Okongwu (10.2 pts, 7.0 rebs, 1.1 blks, 61% from 2). Capella is the starter but Okongwu has been very productive in limited minutes as a backup and spot starts when Capella is out. Atlanta actually has a very talented roster on paper which makes their poor record so puzzling. 

THE PICK: PELICANS (-7)

Atlanta has underachieved for the entire season and they’ll be shorthanded for this game, Lay the Points and take the Pelicans!