New Orleans Pelicans vs Indiana Pacers Prediction, 1/16/2026 Preview and Pick

Game: New Orleans Pelicans vs Indiana Pacers

Date: Friday, January 16, 2026

Location: Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, IN

TV: FanDuel Sports Network

Gainbridge Fieldhouse is the site where the Indiana Pacers (9-32) will attempt to beat the New Orleans Pelicans (10-33) on Friday.

The Pelicans faced off with the Nets and walked away with a win by a score of 116-113 in their last game. In the matter of fouls, the Pelicans ended up finishing with 11 while the Nets finished the game with 21 fouls. They converted 16 of 43 tries from beyond the arc. Brooklyn finished the game at 58.3% at the charity stripe by knocking down 7 of 12 tries. On top of that, Brooklyn collected 43 rebounds (10 offensive, 33 defensive) and earned 7 rejections. Brooklyn recorded 24 dimes and had 3 steals in this contest. In regard to defense, New Orleans let their opponent shoot 47.4% from the field on 45 out of 95 shooting. They also doled out 24 assists in this contest in addition to creating 11 turnovers and having 5 steals. When talking about hauling in rebounds, they earned 53 with 18 of them being offensive. At the free throw line, the Pelicans converted 19 of their 25 attempts for a rate of 76.0%. New Orleans walked away from the game with a 44.3% field goal percentage (43 out of 97) and converted 11 of their 33 3-point attempts.

Trey Murphy III is one player who played a role for this contest. He scored 34 points on 12 out of 22 shooting. He played for 38 minutes and also snagged 9 rebounds. Murphy ended up going 54.5% from the floor and dished out 5 assists.

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New Orleans will enter this game with a win-loss mark of 10-33 this year. They are turning it over 14.7 times per game and as a group are committing 20.1 fouls per game. As a team, New Orleans is snagging 43.5 boards per contest and has earned 1,068 dimes on the season, which has them ranked 12th in basketball in terms of passing the rock. The Pelicans are connecting on 34.1% on 3-pointers (464 of 1,361) and 78.2% from the charity stripe. They average 114.9 pts per contest (20th in basketball) on 46.4% from the floor.

When they are on defense, the Pelicans are forcing 14.9 turnovers every game and they draw 20.8 fouls. They are ranked 30th in basketball in giving up assists to their opponents with 1,241 surrendered so far this season. The Pelicans defense is giving up a shooting percentage of 48.6% (1,905 of 3,923) and they relinquish 45.2 rebounds per game as a squad. They concede 36.1% on 3-pointers while they are 28th in basketball in points per game allowed (122.2).

The last time they took the hardwood, the Pacers went home defeated by a final of 115-101 when they faced the Raptors. With respect to how they cleaned up the glass, Indiana permitted Toronto to grab 49 in all (11 offensive). They finished 35.7% from distance by going 10 of 28 and finished the game at 17 out of 26 at the free throw line (65.4%). The Pacers allowed the Raptors to make 44 out of 89 attempts from the floor which gave them a rate of 49.4% for this contest. At the conclusion of this game, the Pacers shot 33 out of 86 from the floor which gave them a percentage of 38.4%. In relation to shooting from distance, Indiana converted 12 of their 42 tries (28.6%). They were able to convert 23 of those for a rate of 74.2%. The Raptors committed 23 fouls for this contest which got the Pacers to the charity stripe for 31 attempts. They coughed up the ball 11 times, while getting 6 steals in this contest. The Pacers corralled 32 defensive boards and 14 offensive rebounds totaling 46 in this matchup.

Pascal Siakam pitched in for the Pacers for the matchup. Siakam had 26 points in his 35 minutes on the hardwood and had 4 assists for the contest. He converted 10 out of 23 for the matchup for a field goal rate of 43.5%, and totaled 10 rebounds.

Indiana has a record of 9-32 so far this year. The Pacers have committed 22.5 fouls every game and they shoot 77.6% from the free throw line. They are getting an assist 24.9 times per contest (24th in the NBA) and they cough up possession 14.1 times per contest. Indiana has scored 4,534 points on the year (110.6 per contest) and they grab 42.8 boards per contest. When it comes to offensive execution, the Pacers are shooting 44.2% from the floor, which ranks 30th in the league.

The Pacers are ranked 23rd in the league in points per game surrendered with 118.3. They are able to force 14.4 TO's per game and have let teams shoot 48.3% from the field (25th in the NBA). The Indiana defense surrenders 33.6% on shots from beyond the arc (467 of 1,388) and opponents are connecting on 76.3% of their shots from the free throw line. They have conceded 25.2 assists and 47.3 boards per contest, which is ranked 7th and 28th in the NBA.

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

Guy Bruhn's Pick: Take Indiana

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