Can the Golden State Warriors cover as major road favorites tonight? / Kyle Terada-Imagn Images
The Golden State Warriors are off to a fast start in the 2024-25 season, and they'll look to keep that going in an NBA Cup matchup with the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday night.
New Orleans fell to 4-12 on the season on Wednesday, and it's now lost nine of its last 10 games.
Part of it isn't New Orleans' fault - Zion Williams, CJ McCollum, Herb Jones, Dejounte Murray, Jordan Hawkins and Jose Alvarado have all been out - but this slow start has seriously hurt the team's chances of avoiding the play-in, or making the playoffs at all, this season.
Oddsmakers have set the Pels as underdogs on Friday night - and rightfully so given all of their injuries.
Can Steph Curry and the Warriors stay hot and cover the spread?
Here's a breakdown of the odds, players to watch and my best bet for this NBA Cup matchup.
Steph Curry: Curry needed just 10 shots on Wednesday against the Atlanta Hawks to score 23 points, knocking down seven of them. He's now averaging 23.0 points, 5.2 rebounds and 6.5 assists per game in the 2024-25 campaign while shooting an insane 44.1 percent from 3.
Elfrid Payton: After not playing in an NBA game for over 900 days, Elfrid Payton made his season debut with the Pelicans on Wednesday, scoring 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting while dishing out eight assists. Payton also grabbed five boards. With New Orleans extremely banged up right now, the veteran could have a big role in this rotation going forward.
New Orleans has been respectable as a home underdog this season (3-3 against the spread) but I just can't trust it in this spot against Curry and the Warriors.
The Warriors are 3-1 against the spread as road favorites this season, winning those games by an average margin of 21.8 points per game.
My goodness.
Now, with the Pelicans still extremely banged up, I think the Warriors may run things up in a crucial NBA Cup matchup. Golden State is 2-0 in West Group C, and a win on Friday would nearly lock the team into a spot in the knockout round. The problem? The Warriors only have a point differential of plus-8.
So, they could use a blowout win to pad their stats.
On the season, Golden State is in the top five in offensive, defensive and net rating while New Orleans is 27th, 29th and 29th in those categories.
With Ingram listed as questionable, even Hawkins (also questionable) potentially returning may not be enough on Friday.
Don't overthink this one. Lay the points with the Warriors.
Pick: Warriors -10.5 (-112)
Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.