The Pelicans are 7-2 when CJ McCollum is in the lineup the past nine games. New Orleans has three legit scoring options in their half-court offense, while the Lakers only have two. hat’s the difference. Roll with the underdog to win straight up.

I understand this is a neutral-site game, but it will be all Lakers fans in Vegas. The Pels are just 4-6 away from the Big Easy and really the same reasoning here as why we took LA against the Suns on Tuesday: LeBron seems like he cares about winning the NBA Cup (such a lame name) if only to give his younger teammates and the club's support staff some/all of that $500K cash prize that goes to each player on the championship team. And I'm not saying the NBA prefers the Lakers in the final of this grand experiment ... but yeah that's absolutely fact. Simply go watch that ridiculous timeout granted to James in the final seconds of the Suns victory.

The Lakers seem hellbent to win this in-season tourney but have to proceed carefully with LeBron iffy seemingly every night with his lingering calf strain, but continuing to play thru the injury. With LeBron and ASD on the floor, however, the Lakers are playing at a bit slower pace, with the 106-103 win over the Suns on Tuesday more indicative of the type of tempo we are likely to see tonight vs. the Pels. New Orleans is scoring better than 118 pg across its last ten outings, but not sure the Pels can accelerate the pace any better than the Suns on Tuesday night. Play Pelicans-Lakers "Under" (at Las Vegas)

Buy low on Trey Murphy while you can. He's only played 2 games this season (both of which he has hit over this total). On top of that, he historically finds success against the Lakers. He averaged 4 rebounds in the 3 games he played against them, and I think he will continue to have increased minutes to allow his point total to take this over as well.

When the Lakers defense puts in true effort, they are impactful. Tonight, given the stakes, should be one of the nights they do put in effort. In the last 4 in-season tournament games, they have allowed under 110 points. The Pelicans, who likely will feel more like an away team than the Lakers, are averaging 6 fewer points on the road at 111. The size of the Lakers and their healthy wings should make this game difficult for Zion and company.

Lakers power forward Anthony Davis enters the semifinals of the NBA's In-Season Tournament on quite a roll. He's scored at least 27 points in four straight games and now faces his former team, the Pelicans. Last season, Davis averaged 29.3 points in four games against New Orleans. Davis has been staying out of foul trouble, and in what is expected to be a close games, he should play nearly 40 minutes.