The Charlotte Hornets travel to New Orleans desperate to end a three-game slide. To be fair, they've closed the last two games as double-digit underdogs, but that doesn't change the fact that they've now fallen three games behind eighth-place Miami Heat for the final playoff spot in the East with only five games to play. While highly unlikely to make the playoffs at this point, I expect them to battle as long as they have a shot.

The banged up New Orlaens Pelicans on the other hand have long since been eliminated from playoff contention. They've lost eight of their last 10 and are likely to be without All-Star forward Anthony Davis, E'Twaun Moore and Jrue Holiday for the rest of the season. We can also note that Julius Randle was left Sunday's game with a finger injury ...

The road team is 4-0 ATS in the last four meetings in the series and I expect a motivated Hornets team to get the job done tonight.

8* play on Charlotte Hornets.