The No. 1 seed Oklahoma City Thunder take on the No. 8 seed New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. For this game, SportsLine consensus lists Oklahoma City as the 1.5-point favorite, while the over/under is 209.5 points (see up-to-date odds for every game this week on our NBA odds page). 

Before you make any Thunder vs. Pelicans picks, you NEED to see what the SportsLine Projection Model has to say.

The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every NBA game 10,000 times and has returned well over $10,000 in profit for $100 players on its top-rated NBA picks over the past five-plus seasons. The model enters the second week of the 2024 NBA playoffs on a sizzling 90-58 roll on all top-rated NBA picks this season, returning more than $2,800. Anyone following has seen HUGE returns!

The model knows Thunder point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has blistered the Pelicans in the first two games of the series. In Game 1, he poured in 28 points and added six rebounds and four assists. He followed that up with 33 points, five assists, three rebounds and two steals on Wednesday. In 75 games during the regular season, all starts, Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 30.1 points, 6.2 assists, 5.5 rebounds and two steals in 34 minutes.

The model also knows New Orleans shooting guard C.J. McCollum has played well against the Thunder this season. In three regular-season games, he averaged 21.3 points, while adding 7.7 rebounds and 4.3 assists in 37.7 minutes. He poured in 20 points in the Game 1 loss, while adding six assists and three boards. He had 15 points, five rebounds and four assists in Wednesday's loss. He registered two double-doubles during the regular season.

The model has simulated Thunder vs. Pelicans 10,000 times and the results are in. We can tell you that the model is leaning Over on the point total, and it also says one side of the spread hits over 50% of the time!

Who wins Thunder vs. Pelicans, and which side of the spread hits in over 50% of simulations? ... Join SportsLine right now to find out which side of the spread you should be all over, all from the model on a 90-58 roll on top-rated NBA picks!