Lopsided Money Holding Back a Historically High NBA Total

This evening, the Brow and the Pelicans head to La-La Land to take on the Clippers. The new-look Clippers have been scoring buckets on top of buckets as of late, averaging over 120 points per game over their past eight games. That's nothing compared to New Orleans, though, who has averaged nearly 127 points over their past eight.

New Orleans also boasts the "best" over record in the league at 38-23-1, while the Clippers are fourth "best" at 33-28-1.

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With both teams scoring so many points, this total opened between 237 and 238 points around the market, rivaling this year's season high of 237.5, when the Warriors and Rockets faced off in January. Using the tools available at The Action Network, I looked at how professionals are treating this number and where the value lies, based on historically high totals.

Even though the Pelicans have gone over in seven of their past eight (with the one under being by a half a point), and the Clippers going over in six of their past eight, money on the under suggests these trends will come to a halt.

Though bets are relatively split, nearly 70% of dollars so far have been wagered on the under. This has helped the total drop to 237 at Bookmaker and 236 at Pinnacle.

Regardless, this is still a very high total, as only 23 games since 2005 have sported a total of 236 or higher. If you're wondering, they've gone over and under at nearly a 50/50 rate.

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If we expand our sample size to include games of 230 or higher, unders have gone 67-58-1.

If you're wondering what the highest total we've ever tracked was, we have to go all the way back to 2009, when the Kings visited the Suns in a game featuring a total of 245. The Suns ended up winning, 139-111.

Top photo: Anthony Davis

Photo via Chuck Cook – USA TODAY Sports