Nets Short-Handed Again In New Orleans

Brooklyn (38-19 SU, 28-29 ATS) is a game out of first in the East despite only having Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving together on the floor for seven games this year. The Nets will be missing part of their big three yet again tonight when they visit the Pelicans (25-32, 25-32).

Sportsbook Odds Analysis

With Durant out and Harden’s status uncertain, oddsmakers were hesitant to open an early betting line for this game. At the time of writing, only a couple of sportsbooks had odds available and had moved the Pelicans to 3-point favorites.

Brooklyn News & Notes

Less than two weeks after returning from a hamstring injury that caused him to miss 23 games, Durant is back on the shelf. Brooklyn’s superstar forward suffered a thigh contusion early in Sunday’s 109-107 loss at Miami, and the Nets will play it safe tonight by sitting him out against the Pelicans. Durant was a perfect 3-for-3 from the field for eight points before exiting the contest.

Playing without Durant is nothing new for the Nets, who have fashioned a 38-19 SU record this year despite only having him in the lineup for 24 of those 57 games. Winning games without James Harden, who has been out of action since April 5, has been an entirely different matter. Brooklyn is now just 11-12 SU when Harden doesn’t suit up, including 3-3 SU and 4-2 ATS since he injured his hamstring earlier this month against New York.

Landry Shamet started the second half for Durant on Sunday and scored a career-high 30 points on 10-of-15 shooting, including seven three-pointers. However, Kyrie Irving struggled throughout the game, missing 13 of his 19 shots from the field — including his last three. Brooklyn failed to score in the final three and a half minutes of Sunday’s game to let a late six-point lead slip away, losing at the buzzer on a Bam Adebayo jumper.

New Orleans News & Notes

The Pelicans are coming off consecutive overtime losses, the latest a gutting 122-112 defeat Sunday at Madison Square Garden. New Orleans held a six-point lead with 90 seconds remaining in regulation and was nursing a three-point lead in the final seconds before allowing Reggie Bullock to hit a game-tying three-pointer that forced OT.

“With 7.8 seconds left, high school guys could’ve done what they were supposed to do,” coach Stan Van Gundy, who had told his players to intentionally foul before the Knicks attempted a trey, fumed to NOLA.com.

Eric Bledsoe was the goat for blowing the defensive assignment in the final seconds of regulation, spoiling what had been a spectacular second half for the Pelicans point guard. Bledsoe scored 20 points after halftime, including 10 in the first three minutes of the third quarter, to lead New Orleans back from a 13-point deficit at the break. Zion Williamson added 34 points, the fourth time in six games that he’s scored at least 30.

In addition to late-game collapses, poor three-point shooting has been a big reason the Pelicans are just 2-6 ATS in their last eight games. New Orleans missed 21 of its 27 attempts from behind the arc on Sunday and has not made more than seven threes in any of its last seven outings.

Betting Pick: Nets +3

Brooklyn played the Heat down to the final buzzer with this lineup on Sunday and should be able to do at least that against the Pelicans.