New Orleans at Boston

The last few days of the NBA regular season can be crazy. Strange things can happen. This is one of those games. Boston is ahead of the Knicks for the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference by two games with two games left. If the Celtics win this game against the Pelicans or defeat the Magic at home on Sunday, they earn the second seed. Boston doesn't even have to win to get the No. 2 seed if the Knicks were to lose to the Raptors today or to the Hornets on Sunday. Both the Celtics and Knicks games today start at the same time. So Boston could be doing some scoreboard watching. Disregard Boston’s 54-26 mark and New Orleans’ 26-54 record. Circumstances make this game much closer than the inflated point spread suggests. The Pelicans have a rest advantage following a 156-137 win against the Jazz three days ago. New Orleans had a season high in points despite sitting out its starters. Boston fell to the Knicks on the road last night, 112-106. Jayson Tatum had 24 points, but played 35-plus minutes. Jaylen Brown, Boston's leading scorer at 28.8 points, did not play because of left Achilles tendinitis and is questionable here. The youthful Pelicans are full of energy and will look to push the pace. The Celtics are playing without rest and for the eighth time in 13 days. They don't care about the point spread. They just want to get a victory. That won't be as easy as the oddsmaker thinks. Take the Pelicans on the point spread and on the moneyline.