San Antonio Spurs vs New Orleans Pelicans Prediction, 4/5/2024 Preview and Pick

Game: San Antonio Spurs vs New Orleans Pelicans

Date: Friday, April 5, 2024

Location: Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, LA

TV: Bally Sports New Orleans

Smoothie King Center is the location where the New Orleans Pelicans (45-30) will meet the San Antonio Spurs (18-58) on Friday.

The Spurs stepped onto the hardwood against the Nuggets and walked away from this one with a loss by a score of 110-105 in their last game. Regarding fouls, the Spurs ended up with 19 while the Nuggets had 15 fouls. They converted 11 of their 34 shots from downtown. Denver shot 81.3% at the charity stripe by converting 13 of their 16 shots. On top of that, Denver grabbed 52 rebounds (11 offensive, 41 defensive) and added 12 rejections. Denver distributed 28 assists and had 5 steals for this contest. In terms of defense, San Antonio allowed their opponent to shoot 43.9% from the field on 43 out of 98 shooting. They also recorded 33 dimes in this contest while forcing the other team into 8 turnovers and having 4 steals. In terms of pulling down boards, they compiled 59 with 15 of them being on the offensive end. When they shot from the free throw line, the Spurs converted 8 of their 16 attempts for a percentage of 50.0%. San Antonio walked away from the contest with a 40.0% FG percentage (42 out of 105) and knocked down 13 out of their 44 shots from 3-point land.

Malaki Branham is a player who was a factor for the matchup. Branham ended up shooting 52.6% from the floor and also recorded 1 assist. He was on the hardwood for 37 mins and also snagged 3 boards. He was able to score 24 points on 10 of 19 shooting.

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San Antonio comes into this contest with a win-loss mark of 18-58 this season. They turn the ball over 14.9 times per game and as a basketball team they are committing 17.5 personal fouls per contest. As a unit, San Antonio is pulling in 43.1 rebounds per game and has racked up 2,266 dimes on the year, which ranks 2nd in basketball in terms of passing. The Spurs are connecting on 34.7% on shots from downtown (954 of 2,746) and 78.1% from the free throw line. They average 112.1 pts per contest (22nd in the NBA) while shooting 46.2% from the field.

On the defensive end, the Spurs are able to force 13.4 turnovers every game and they draw 18.1 personal fouls. They currently rank 26th in the NBA in allowing assists to the opposition with 2,135 surrendered so far this season. The Spurs defensively are allowing an opponent shooting percentage of 49.0% (3,420 of 6,976) and they surrender 44.7 rebounds per game as a team. They are surrendering 37.7% on shots from distance while they are 25th in the league in opponents points per game (119.1).

In their last game, the Pelicans walked away from this one with a loss by a score of 117-108 against the Magic. The Pelicans were able to snag 28 defensive boards and 7 offensive boards for a total of 35 for this game. They also gave up possession of the ball 14 times, while recording 9 steals for this contest. The Magic earned 20 personal fouls for this game which got the Pelicans to the charity stripe for 28 shots. They were able to knock down 24 of those for a percentage of 85.7%. Concerning three-point shots, New Orleans knocked down 12 out of their 29 attempts (41.4%). When the final whistle blew, the Pelicans went 36 out of 76 from the field which had them at 47.4%. The Pelicans allowed the Magic to convert 41 of their 80 attempts from the floor which gave them a rate of 51.3% for the game. They finished the game shooting 40.6% from distance by shooting 13 out of 32 and ended up going 22 of 30 from the free throw line (73.3%). In relation to attacking the glass, New Orleans permitted Orlando to get 39 overall (7 on the offensive glass).

CJ McCollum pitched in for the Pelicans for this game. McCollum accumulated 36 points in his 41 mins on the court and had 4 dimes for this contest. He made 10 of 24 in this contest giving him a field goal percentage of 41.7%, and earned 10 rebounds.

New Orleans has a win-loss mark of 45-30 on the year. The Pelicans are committing 18.6 personal fouls per game and they connect on 76.5% from the charity stripe. They are dishing out assists 27.0 times per contest (12th in basketball) and they turn the ball over 13.0 times per contest. New Orleans has scored 8,639 points on the year (115.2 per game) and they pull in 44.3 rebounds per game. When it comes to offensive execution, the Pelicans are shooting 48.7% from the field, which is 8th in the league.

The Pelicans on the defensive side of the court are 8th in the NBA in PPG given up with 110.5. They have forced 14.1 turnovers per game and have let teams shoot 46.0% from the field (4th in basketball). The New Orleans defense gives up 34.7% from downtown (1,012 of 2,920) and their opponents are knocking down 78.2% of their free throw attempts. They surrender 26.6 assists and 42.5 total rebounds per game, which is 15th and 11th in the league.

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

Guy Bruhn's Pick: Take San Antonio

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