Cavs @ Pelicans - Pick, Best Bet and a +354 Parlay

The Cavaliers, in the midst of a four-game winning streak, visit the streaking Pelicans, winners of three straight, on Friday night and will welcome back Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell while hoping Jarrett Allen stays hot. 

The Cavaliers should be back at full strength tonight after both Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell sat out Wednesday’s game with nagging injuries. The Cleveland injury report is pretty clean, except for Ricky Rubio, who is out due to maintenance on his knee, so Garland and Mitchell should be good to go tonight. That means Caris LeVert, who, along with Rubio, saw extra minutes and opportunities on Wednesday will fade back into his normal role tonight.

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The player we’re going to focus on for the Cavs tonight is Jarrett Allen. His over/under for total points & rebounds is set at 25.5, which, unfortunately, is up from where it started this morning at 24.5. Nonetheless, Allen is red-hot and the Pelicans aren’t great against opposing centers. In fact, they give up the seventh-most points to them and the 15th most rebounds. Allen, meanwhile, has been a one-man wrecking ball lately, averaging 19.8 points and 12.0 rebounds in February, all of which were wins for the Cavaliers. He’s hit the over in four straight games and had exactly 25 points & boards in the fifth one on Jan. 31. Of course, he could flop tonight but the matchup is good and he’s been rocking and rolling his way through February, hitting 75.5 percent of his shots to boot. He’s also been blocking shots, with at least one in five straight games and two of them in two of his last four.   

The Pelicans will be at full staff as well, sans Zion Williamson who’s still not ready with the hamstring injury that’s had him in street clothes since Jan. 2. Additionally, Josh Richardson, who was traded to the Pels on Thursday, won’t be with the team tonight. The Cavaliers are the fourth-easiest team in the league for opposing power forwards to score against but the Pelicans use Herb Jones at the four a lot and he’s just not a scorer. Having said that, Jones' over/under for points tonight is set at 9.5 and he had 11 in Tuesday’s win over the Hawks. But before that, he scored nine or fewer in three straight. Despite the good matchup, he’s a risky over play here. 

Brandon Ingram, on the other hand, is a scorer and has point totals of 30, 35 and 26 points in each of his last three games. His over/under is set at 24.5 points tonight, but the Cavs are strong against opposing SFs, ranking as the sixth-best team in the league in points allowed to that position. That makes this a tough matchup for Ingram and the under probably makes more sense. Cleveland also ranks No. 1 in the league in points given to opposing point guards, making us leery of going with C.J. McCollum tonight. But McCollum has hit seven 3-pointers over his last two games and has hit at least two of them in six of his last seven. He should be good for a couple triples tonight, if nothing else.

Both teams are coming in hot to this one and the home-court advantage will be a key factor. Something’s going to have to give and we’re going to roll with the home team, although we don’t have a strong feeling about it. 

Pick: Pelicans -3

Best Bet

Jarrett Allen over 25.5 points and rebounds -113 at FanDuel

Same Game +354 Parlay at FanDuel

Leg 1: C.J. McCollum 2+ made 3-pointers

Leg 2: Jarrett Allen 15+ points

Leg 3: Jarrett Allen 10+ rebounds