The Pelicans and Lakers are one of the few matchups where both teams have something to play for on Sunday. Veteran CJ McCollum has been in a zone down the stretch, where he has scored 28 or more points in six straight games. That is an asset you want to keep in rhythm approaching the postseason. Even with Brandon Ingram’s likelihood of playing, take McCollum’s over.

Play-in consequences both ways here. For the Lake Show, it has responded to a month's (or more) worth of crucial encounters by putting a bit more petrol in the tank and scoring a lot of points, indeed nearly at 123 ppg across the last eleven games, and a commensurate "over" trend dating back a bit further (15-6 "over" since February 29). There would seem little chance that AD would not be available even as he appears again on the injury report (eye), while LeBron is digging deep, scoring at a 35 pg clip across the last two. Note the Pels have been involved in some shootouts vs. LA this season, and also trending "over" lately as well (5-2 last seven). Play Lakers-Pelicans "Over"

CJ McCollum has been playing his best baskteball of the season over the last month and has scored at least 20+ in 12 of his last 15 games, including six consecutive games. While CJ has certainly been good, a lot of that increase in production can be attributed to Brandon Ingram suffering an injury and being out of the lineup. Ingram has been the Pelicans second leading scorer for most of the season and while listed as Questionable, is expected to return to the lineup against the Lakers. WIth this game having major seeding implications for both teams, I think possessions will be at a minimum and this is a large PA line for McCollum, especially with Ingram in the lineup.

McCollum has become a dominant scoring cog in the Pelicans playoff push which includes pretty impressive successive wins at the Kings and Warriors. He has 28+ points in 6 straight games and at least 19 FG attempts in 6 straight games and at 4 threes made in 4 straight games and is being more for proactive looking for his shot. The game has more weight for the Pelicans than the Lakers and I'm thinking some of their recent road trends hold true here. He's over this in 11 of the last 12 games