New Orleans Pelicans at Phoenix Suns 4/17/22 - NBA Picks & Predictions

The New Orleans Pelicans visit the Phoenix Suns on Sunday for Game 1 for their NBA Western Conference quarterfinals best-of-seven series. New Orleans defeated the LA Clippers 105-101 on Friday to finish eighth in the conference. Brandon Ingram was the leading scorer for New Orleans with 30 points and the Pelicans outrebounded the Clippers 54-45. New Orleans also defeated San Antonio in the opening round of the play-in tournament.

CJ McCollum is the leading scorer for New Orleans with an average of 24.3 points per game, while Brandon Ingram is the second-leading scorer with an average of 22.7 points per game. Jonas Valanciunas is the leading rebounder with an average of 11.4 points per game and McCollum is the leader in assists with an average of 5.8 assists per game. As a team, New Orleans is scoring an average of 109.3 points per game.

Phoenix lost four of its final six games of the regular season but had already clinched both first place in the Pacific Division and in the Western Conference. Phoenix finished the regular season 64-18, which was 11 games better than Golden State in the Pacific and was the best overall record in the NBA. Dario Saric is out and Landry Shamet is day to day for Phoenix.

Devin Booker is the leading scorer for Phoenix with an average of 26.8 points per game while Deandre Ayton is the second leading scorer and the leading rebounder with averages of 17.2 points per game and 10.2 rebounds per game. Chris Paul is the third leading scorer and the leader in assists with averages of 14.7 points and 10.8 assists per game. As a team, Phoenix is scoring an average of 114.8 points per game.