NBA Betting – Will Pacers Halt Warriors’ Streak?
By Zack Garrison in News
Updated: January 17, 2018 at 9:39 am ESTPublished:
Golden State Warriors (-6, 215 o/u) at Indiana Pacers
The Golden State Warriors (22-0, 12-0 Away) are solid favorites to beat the Indiana Pacers (12-7, 6-2 Home) tonight (7:00 PM Eastern at Bankers Life Fieldhouse). But their matchup could be a little more intriguing that many expect.
Golden State will be playing their fifth game on a seven-game road trip. They won the first four straight-up (obviously) but went only 2-2 ATS, covering against the Hornets and Nets but not against the Jazz or Raptors. The 114-98 win over the Nets last time out was actually a bit closer than the final score would suggest. Golden State jumped out to an early 17-point lead, saw that evaporate, and then got 16 points from Steph Curry in the third quarter to pull away again.
“Just trying to see if I could get some room and figure out a way to impact the game,” Curry said to the Associated Press after the win. “And things started to click.”
The Pacers currently sit tied for second in the tight Eastern Conference but have lost two straight to Portland and Utah, dropping the team to just 3-4 against the Western Conference on the year.  That said, Indiana is one of the few teams in the league that can conceivably trade blows with the Warriors; Golden State leads the league, averaging 115.1 PPG, while the Pacers have poured in almost 113 over their last eight.
The Indiana offense starts with small forward Paul George – who’d be in the early MVP conversation if Curry allowed room for any other contenders. George is averaging over 27 PPGÂ while also hauling in 8.2 rebounds and dishing out 4.2 dimes per game. He hasn’t had to go it alone, though, as four other Pacers are averaging in double-figures (CJ Miles, George Hill, Monta Ellis, and Rodney Stuckey).
“We’re definitely geared with our personnel to match up with this team,” George said to the AP. “It looks good on paper, we’ve just got to go out and execute.”
Golden State is 1-7 straight up and against the spread in its last eight at Indiana, while the total has gone UNDER in five of the last six of those.
Pick: Pacers +6.
(Photo credit:Â joshuak8 [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo has been cropped.)
Sports Writer
Zack is a tour guide whose favorite sports are football, baseball, and golf. He enjoys giving obnoxious commentary during games and hopes to some day write a book about sports. His favorite underdog victory was the Diamondbacks beating the Yankees in game 7 of the World Series.
