New Orleans at Golden State

The New Orleans Hornets had their hands full in their finale in a must-win vs. a San Antonio team that had won 11 straight games coming in. The Pelicans got it done, and earned the right to take on #1 seed Golden State. At 45-37, New Orleans played in the impossible NBA Southwest Conference, where all five teams made the playoffs, and this team is better than their record because of that. The Pelicans have had to fight for every game this season, just to make the playoffs, and broke through less than two weeks ago in beating Golden State, and holding Thompson and Curry to 11-28 shooting. They have a beast inside in Antonio Davis who went for a double-double at 29-10. New orleans went 8-3 down the stretch, and held 8 teams to 100 points or fewer. Golden State has had a free run this season. They opened at 18-2 and have not really had any pressure on them in any game this season. However, I think that will work against them here in this one as this will be their first prssure game of the season, so they may start slow. As a result, I like the UNDER in the first half. The Pelicans split the four games this season ATS, and this is a team that delivered in their finale under pressure, while Golden State has yet to experience any pressure all season. New Orleans will stay inside a huge number here, so take the points on New Orleans and the first half UNDER.