New Orleans Pelicans vs San Antonio Spurs Prediction, 3/18/2022 NBA Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: New Orleans Pelicans vs San Antonio Spurs

Date: Friday, March 18, 2022

Location: AT&T Center in San Antonio, TX

TV: Bally Sports Southwest

The San Antonio Spurs (27-43) will try to beat the New Orleans Pelicans (28-41) at AT&T Center on Friday.

The Pelicans played the Suns and ended up losing by a score of 131-115 in their last contest. Concerning fouls, the Pelicans ended up finishing with 19 while the Suns racked up 8 fouls. They converted 18 of 34 shots from three-point range. Phoenix ended up going 100.0% from the free throw line by converting 15 of their 15 tries. Additionally, Phoenix snagged 28 rebounds (6 offensive, 22 defensive) and got 4 rejections. Phoenix earned 34 assists and had 35 steals in this matchup. Pertaining to defense, New Orleans allowed their opponent to shoot 54.4% from the floor on 49 out of 90 shooting. They also recorded 29 assists for this contest while forcing 2 turnovers and earning 7 steals. Concerning grabbing rebounds, they earned 45 with 13 of them being of the offensive variety. At the charity stripe, the Pelicans made 17 of 24 tries for a rate of 70.8%. New Orleans walked away from the game having earned a 50.0% FG percentage (43 out of 86) and converted 12 of 34 shots from beyond the perimeter.

Herbert Jones is a player who was a major factor for the matchup. He left the arena with 22 points on 7 of 11 shooting. He played for 32 mins and grabbed 5 boards. Jones ended up going 63.6% from the field but wasn't able to get an assist.

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New Orleans will play this contest with a win-loss record of 28-41 for the campaign. They currently have an average of 108.3 points per outing (22nd in the league) while shooting 45.4% from the floor. The Pelicans are connecting on 33.0% on shots beyond the perimeter (745 of 2,256) and 78.3% from the charity stripe. As a unit, New Orleans is pulling down 45.3 rebounds per game and has tallied 1,732 assists for the campaign, which is 11th in the NBA in terms of passing the ball. They are giving up possession 14.3 times per game and as a basketball team they commit 20.0 personal fouls every game.

Defensively, the Pelicans have forced 13.8 turnovers per game while drawing 20.4 personal fouls. They relinquish 36.1% on shots from beyond the perimeter and they are ranked 14th in basketball in points per game from their opponents (110.2). The Pelicans defense is giving up a field goal percentage of 46.7% (2,767 of 5,926) and they surrender 42.3 boards per game as a group. They are 10th in the league in giving up assists with 1,671 relinquished this year.

When they last played, the Spurs took home the win by a final score of 122-120 when they faced the Thunder. Regarding rebounds, San Antonio allowed Oklahoma City to snag 37 in total (10 offensive). They shot 37.1% from three-point range via 13 out of 35 and finished the contest at 21 of 29 at the charity stripe (72.4%). The Spurs permitted the Thunder to make 43 of 82 attempts from the floor which left them with a rate of 52.4% for the matchup. In all, the Spurs finished the game shooting 43 for 98 from the floor which gave them a shooting percentage of 43.9%. In reference to shots from distance, San Antonio made 19 of 41 attempts (46.3%). They were able to knock down 17 of the free throw tries for a percentage of 85.0%. The Thunder committed 17 personal fouls in this contest which got the Spurs to the free throw line for a total of 20 attempts. They coughed up the ball 12 times, while getting 10 steals in this matchup. The Spurs were able to corral 33 defensive rebounds and 15 offensive rebounds for a total of 48 in this matchup.

Dejounte Murray was important for the Spurs for the game. He buried 7 of 18 in this contest giving him a rate of 38.9%, and had 9 rebounds. Murray tallied 26 points in his 36 minutes on the court and added 12 dimes in this game.

San Antonio has a win-loss record of 27-43 for the year. The Spurs commit 18.3 personal fouls per contest and they connect on 74.4% from the free throw line. They are assisting teammates 28.1 times per game (1st in the NBA) and they turn the ball over 12.7 times per contest. San Antonio has scored 7,910 pts on the year (113.0 per game) and they snag 45.3 boards per contest. When it comes to executing on offense, the Spurs are shooting 46.8% from the floor, which ranks 8th in the league.

The Spurs on the defensive side of the court are 25th in the league in PPG given up with 113.6. They have forced 14.0 turnovers per game and allow teams to shoot 47.0% from the field (24th in the NBA). The San Antonio defense surrenders 35.9% from downtown (828 of 2,309) and their opponents are making 76.7% of their free throw shots. They surrender 23.9 assists and 46.8 boards on a nightly basis, which ranks them 10th and 25th in basketball.

Who will win tonight's NBA game against the spread?

Guy Bruhn's Pick: Take New Orleans

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