NBA Late Night Betting: Indiana Pacers at Phoenix Suns

Indiana at Phoenix
Time: 10:35 PM ET, Jan 22, 2014
Spread: IND -6.5
Total: 196

Betting odds courtesy of Bovada

The Indiana Pacers are owners of the best record in the Eastern Conference, with a four-game lead over the Miami Heat at this half-way juncture of the season. The team knocked off the Golden State Warriors 102-94 on Monday night and will travel to Phoenix to face the surprisingly good Suns in a game NBA oddsmakers are favoring the Pacers by 6.5 points.

Phoenix has looked a lot more like the mediocre team that people thought it would be of recent times. The Suns have lost four of its last six games and finished January 4-6. The backcourt tandem of Goran Dragic and Eric Bledsoe is very good, but it remains to be seen whether the Suns can be effective in playoff basketball with its “nine seconds or less approach” to possessions.

Dragic and Bledsoe combine to average 37.4 points and 11.8 assists per game, which is to say the tandem has a hand in nearly 60 percent of the Suns’ scores. Gerald Green, Channing Frye, Markieff Morris and Marcus Morris all make the most of the transition opportunities and are shooting well and averaging double-digits. The Suns average 103.9 points per game (9th in the NBA).

The Pacers are the stingiest team in the Association, though, allowing just 88.3 points per game. Indy scores 98.2, and the point differential is nearly 10 points per game. Last year’s Most Improved Player Paul George is averaging 23.2 points, 6.2 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game and Lance Stephenson may receive All-Star consideration this season, too.

Roy Hibbert still has failed to evolve into a real presence on the low blocks, but the Georgetown product is a good shot blocker (2.6 blocks per game) and saves his best for the Miami Heat. The Pacers are very strong on the interior with Hibbert, forward David West, Luis Scola and Ian Mahinmi. Indiana ranks 9th in the NBA in rebounding, with 44.9 boards per contest.