The Boston Celtics will travel to New Orleans, Louisiana to face the New Orleans Pelicans at the Smoothie King Center. The game is scheduled to start at 5:00 PM ET on Saturday evening and will air on Bally Sports New Orleans, NBA TV, and NBC Sports Boston.

It should come as no surprise that the Boston Celtics have already clinched the best record in the Eastern Conference as they have been the most dominant team in the NBA this season and will be the 1 Seed in the Eastern Conference in the 2024 NBA Playoffs. 

However, Boston has split the first four games of their six-game road trip with wins over the Detroit Pistons by a score of 129-102 and the Chicago Bulls by a score of 124-113 but have lost their last two games following back-to-back losses against the Atlanta Hawks including a 122-123 loss in overtime on Thursday. 

The Celtics have not lost three consecutive games this season and have only lost back-to-back games three times this season. This will be the 2^nd meeting against the Pelicans for the Celtics with Boston winning the previous game at home by a score of 118-112 and having won five straight against New Orleans. 

The Boston Celtics will look to extend their winning streak against the Pelicans to six games and end their two-game losing streak when they travel to New Orleans for Game 2 of the regular season series. 

The New Orleans Pelicans are close to securing a playoff berth for the 2024 NBA Playoffs in the Western Conference as they have the 5^th best record in the conference at 45-28 and have a 7.5-game lead over the Houston Rockets in the playoff race. 

The Pelicans have been hot in March which has improved their playoff seeding and have compiled a record of 10-3 this month while having won by an average margin of 10.16 points per game. However, the Pelicans have lost five straight against the Celtics and have lost by an average margin of 9.4 points per game in those contests. 

The New Orleans Pelicans will look to end their losing streak against the Celtics when they host the Boston Celtics in the final regular season meeting between the two teams on Saturday evening.

JustBet has the Boston Celtics listed as 5.5-point favorites on the road against the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday evening. Boston has won five straight against New Orleans and seven of the last ten games in the series. The Celtics have won by an average margin of 9.4 points per game during their current five-game winning streak in the series including a 6-point win in the meeting earlier this season with a 118-112 win.

Boston has the best record in the NBA with a record of 57-16 and has a six-game lead over the Denver Nuggets for the best record with only nine games left this season the Celtics are almost a near lock to finish with the best record in the NBA. The Celtics have won five straight against the Pelicans and have won by an average margin of 9.4 points per game in those contests. 

I look for those trends to continue which is why I am buying the .5 point and laying the points with the Boston Celtics when they travel to face the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday evening.