Atlanta Hawks at Indiana Pacers, Conseco Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, IN
Friday, April 8, 2011, 7:00 pm Eastern, TV: FSIN
Opening Line: Pacers -6
Current Line: Pacers -6
Opening Total: 195
Current Total: 195
Money Line: Pacers -260 / Hawks +220
The Atlanta Hawks (44-34) and Indiana Pacers (36-43) have already both qualified for the playoffs and will not be able to improve their seeding as they play out their remaining games in the regular season, setting up an interesting matchup between the teams on Friday. The Pacers (-6) will try to avoid losing to the Hawks for the 10th straight time though and gain some more confidence before a likely first-round series with probable top seed Chicago.
Indiana has lost the last nine meetings with Atlanta and has not been competitive in most of them, failing to cover the spread in the past six with all of those games decided by 10 points or more. However, the Pacers were not a playoff-caliber team until Frank Vogel took over for Jim O’Brien as head coach on January 30. They are 19-16 under Vogel and have won four of their last five games overall following one of their most dominant performances of the season in a 136-112 rout of Washington on Wednesday.
The team shot nearly 60 percent from the field against the lowly Wizards and got a combined 48 points from leading scorer Danny Granger and rookie Paul George, who tallied a career-high 23. That victory was Indiana’s fourth in a row at home, and the total has gone OVER in three of those games.
The Hawks have dropped two straight following a four-game winning streak and are an impressive 6-1 against the spread in their last seven. They lost at home to San Antonio on Tuesday 97-90 and have gone 7-13 ATS when playing with two days of rest or more this season.
Atlanta may also decide to rest its starters in the last four games with nothing to gain since a first-round matchup with Orlando is all but set. Forward Josh Smith is dealing with a swelling in his right knee and may sit out while center Al Horford (ankle) and guard Joe Johnson (thumb) are also nursing injuries. Smith scored a game-high 27 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the last meeting with the Pacers back on January 8, which resulted in a 108-93 win.
The pace of the game will likely be determined by who is able to play for the Hawks, as the total has gone UNDER in five of their last six games. Indiana would love to run and has seen an opposite trend lately with the OVER going 4-1 in its past five. The UNDER is 3-1 in the last four meetings after the OVER cashed in the previous three games between the teams.
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