Los Angeles Clippers vs New Orleans Pelicans – Preview & Prediction (Oct. 31, 2025)

The Los Angeles Clippers will once again aim to reach their ultimate goal this season — at least the NBA Finals. However, that won’t be an easy task, as the competition in the Western Conference is extremely strong. At least six teams have similar ambitions from the very start, meaning the Clippers will have to work very hard to achieve that goal. The first condition for success is to stay healthy and avoid injuries to key players. Given their injury history and the age of their core, that will be very difficult to maintain. So far, the Clippers have played four games this season, recording two wins and two losses. They defeated the Phoenix Suns and Portland Trail Blazers, while losing to the Utah Jazz and, most recently, the Golden State Warriors.

In that game against the Warriors, the Clippers played very well in the first half but completely fell apart in the second, scoring only 30 points — fewer than what the Warriors scored in the third quarter alone. That performance exposed all the issues this team might face when matched against elite opponents. It should serve as a strong reminder of how much work remains to be done for them to truly compete with the best. Their shooting completely collapsed in the second half, and 11 turnovers only made things worse, as the Warriors easily converted those mistakes into points. One of the main principles when facing the Warriors is to avoid playing at their pace — because if you do, you’ll almost certainly lose. Turnovers remain a heavy burden for this Clippers squad, as they struggle with them in nearly every game. Fortunately for them, they now face a team that has been struggling and, in terms of quality, shouldn’t pose a serious threat.

The season hasn’t started well for the New Orleans Pelicans either, as they remain one of the few winless teams in the league. They’ve played four games and lost all of them. In such a competitive Western Conference, the Pelicans must start winning soon if they hope to fight for a play-in spot, but that will be a tough mission. While they had some chances in their first two losses against the Memphis Grizzlies and San Antonio Spurs, their last two defeats were one-sided. The Boston Celtics beat them by 32 points, while the Denver Nuggets won by 34. In both games, they allowed 122 points.

In fact, the Pelicans have not allowed fewer than 120 points in any of their four games so far — which is particularly concerning given that they play at one of the slowest paces in the league, ranking among the bottom eight. That translates to one of the seven worst defensive ratings in the NBA. Offensively, things look even worse — they currently have the lowest offensive rating in the entire league. There are many reasons for this, including the fact that they have the third-lowest percentage of assisted points, meaning their offense relies heavily on isolation plays and individual scoring — a strategy that rarely leads to consistent success. Still, with players like Jordan Poole and Zion Williamson, it’s hard to expect anything different.