Portland Trail Blazers vs New Orleans Pelicans Final Score & Over/Under Result — Jan 2, 2026

Deni Avdija's 34 points, 7 rebounds, and 11 assists powered Portland past New Orleans, but the Trail Blazers' offensive dominance couldn't override a game shaped fundamentally by defensive resistance. Portland's 122-109 victory delivered a combined 231 points, landing squarely under the 240.5 market total by 9.5 points—a call DAGGER leaned on pregame and cashed.

The game unfolded in two distinct halves. New Orleans came out aggressive, holding a 37-29 edge in Q1, but Portland flipped the script in Q2, outscoring the Pelicans 34-18 to build momentum into halftime with a combined 118 points across both teams. The second half proved far more defensive. Q3 bottomed out at just 42 combined points—the night's tightest quarter—before Q4 exploded to 71, a late-game surge that narrowed the gap but proved too little for New Orleans. Zion Williamson matched Avdija's offensive intensity with 35 points and 8 rebounds, while Shaedon Sharpe added 23 for Portland and Jeremiah Fears chipped in 18 for the Pelicans.

Portland enters this window averaging 113.3 points per game over its last ten, while New Orleans has scored 123.8. Yet today's combined output reflected New Orleans' recent defensive form—the Pelicans have allowed 122.9 per game—reasserting itself just enough to keep the total beneath expectation. Head-to-head context matters: these teams combined for 263 points on December 11 and 242 on November 12, making 231 a relative low-water mark in their seasonal series.