Portland Trail Blazers vs New Orleans Pelicans: How to Watch, Odds and Game Preview (April 2)

The Portland Trail Blazers return home on Thursday night for a matchup against the New Orleans Pelicans at Moda Center. Portland enters this game having won four of its last five, while New Orleans comes in on a five-game losing streak and has struggled badly away from home with a 9-28 road record. With only a handful of games left in the regular season, this is another important opportunity for the Blazers to take care of business and strengthen their position.

This is a game the Trail Blazers should feel good about entering, especially at home against a Pelicans team that has had a hard time winning on the road all season. Portland has been playing solid basketball lately, and with New Orleans dropping five straight, the momentum clearly favors the Blazers on paper. Even so, this is not a team Portland can afford to overlook.

The Pelicans still have plenty of talent, and that makes them dangerous even if the results have not followed consistently this season. They have enough ability to beat quality opponents on any given night, which means the Blazers still need to approach this matchup with the right level of urgency. With every game magnified at this point in the season, Portland cannot afford a letdown in a game where it enters as the favorite. If the Blazers stay locked in and play to their standard, this is another strong chance to stack a needed win before the regular season enters its final stretch.

Following this contest, the Trail Blazers will have three full days off before being in Denver to take on the Nuggets on Monday night. That break should give Portland a chance to recover, refocus, and prepare for what will be one of its final four games of the season.