New Orleans vs Cleveland: prediction for the NBA match
Will Pelicans be able to put up a fight to the Cavaliers on December 29? The answer is in our prediction.

Command Analysis

New Orleans Pelicans

New Orleans started to perform better in recent matches. Green's men won 4 out of 5 last games. They recorded memorable victories over Portland (111:97) and Milwaukee (116:112). These successful matches helped the Pelicans to leave the bottom spot of the Western Conference. Now team is fighting for the play-in zone, because Pelicans are only two games away from the 10th spot.
Despite recent victories, New Orleans suffered a defeat. Seems like Green's men relaxed a little bit and lost to Oklahoma (112:117) on the road two days ago.

Cleveland Cavaliers

Cleveland Cavaliers are still playing without Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, but Cavs are still in a good form. In the most recent match Bickerstaff's men left no chance to Toronto, crushing the opponent by a 144:99 score. Darius Garland and Kevin Love were the best players for the Cavs in this match. Each one of these players scored 22 points. Lauri Markkanen also scored 20 points.
After recent successes Cleveland rose to the 5th spot in the Eastern Conference standings. Cavaliers secured a spot in Top-6 at least for some time now, because they are three games ahead of the 7th spot.
Trends
СтавкаMarkkanen: total under 6,5 rebounds
Finnish player averages 5,3 rebounds per game on the road

СтавкаDarius Garland: total under 22,5 points
Garland averages 17,5 points per game on the road

Tip and bets
Cleveland is one of the greatest defensive teams in the league. In 4 out of 5 most recent matches Bickerstaff's men didn't let their opponents to score more than 100 points. We think that Cavaliers won't change the strategy in the match against New Orleans.
Pelicans are not looking good in matches against defensive teams. In this case, we are not expecting a victory from them. We think that Cavs will record a confident victory.
Our prediction - Cleveland to win with a handicap of (-4,5) points
Cleveland allowed 102,6 points per game on away matches. New Orleans' offense is not so strong. Pelicans' squad is too weak to score many points on visitors' defense.
Our second bet - New Orleans: total under 106,5 points