Who's Playing
Portland Trail Blazers @ New Orleans Pelicans
Current Records: Portland 12-23, New Orleans 7-30
How To Watch
- When: Wednesday, January 8, 2025 at 8 p.m. ET
- Where: Smoothie King Center -- New Orleans, Louisiana
- TV: Gulf Coast Sports
- Follow: CBS Sports App
- Online streaming: fuboTV (Try for free. Regional restrictions may apply.)
- Ticket Cost: $2.00
What to Know
Having just played yesterday, the New Orleans Pelicans will get right back to it and host the Portland Trail Blazers at 8:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday at Smoothie King Center. The Pelicans are the slight favorite, but fans should be in for an exciting game likely to go down to the wire.
The Pelicans are likely headed into the match with a focus on the second half, which is when things went downhill against the Timberwolves on Tuesday. The Pelicans took a 104-97 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Timberwolves.
The Pelicans' loss shouldn't obscure the performances of Dejounte Murray, who went 12 for 20 en route to 29 points plus six assists and six steals, and Zion Williamson, who went 9 for 15 en route to 22 points plus six rebounds and three steals. The dominant performance also gave Murray a new career-high in field goal percentage (60%).
Meanwhile, the Trail Blazers suffered their closest defeat since December 13, 2024 on Monday. They fell just short of the Pistons by a score of 118-115. Portland was up 45-23 in the second but couldn't hold on to the lead.
The loss doesn't tell the whole story though, as several players had good games. One of the most active was Anfernee Simons, who shot 8-for-12 from beyond the arc and almost dropped a double-double on 36 points and nine assists. Shaedon Sharpe was another key player, posting 20 points in addition to eight assists and eight rebounds.
Even though they lost, the Trail Blazers were working as a unit and finished the game with 32 assists. That's the most assists they've managed all season.
New Orleans has traveled a rocky road recently having lost 21 of their last 24 matchups, which put a noticeable dent in their 7-30 record this season. As for Portland, they continue to see their hopes of redeeming themselves for a poor last season fade as the team sits at a 12-23 record this season.
The Pelicans ended up a good deal behind the Trail Blazers when the teams last played back in November of 2024, losing 118-100. Can the Pelicans avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Odds
New Orleans is a slight 2.5-point favorite against Portland, according to the latest NBA odds.
The oddsmakers were right in line with the betting community on this one, as the game opened as a 2.5-point spread, and stayed right there.
The over/under is 226.5 points.
See NBA picks for every single game, including this one, from SportsLine's advanced computer model. Get picks now.
Series History
New Orleans has won 7 out of their last 10 games against Portland.
- Nov 04, 2024 - Portland 118 vs. New Orleans 100
- Oct 27, 2024 - Portland 125 vs. New Orleans 103
- Oct 25, 2024 - New Orleans 105 vs. Portland 103
- Apr 09, 2024 - New Orleans 110 vs. Portland 100
- Mar 16, 2024 - New Orleans 126 vs. Portland 107
- Feb 10, 2024 - New Orleans 93 vs. Portland 84
- Mar 27, 2023 - New Orleans 124 vs. Portland 90
- Mar 12, 2023 - New Orleans 127 vs. Portland 110
- Mar 01, 2023 - New Orleans 121 vs. Portland 110
- Nov 10, 2022 - Portland 106 vs. New Orleans 95
