Time: 7 PM CT, ESPN
Spread: EVEN
Total: 206.5

Odds c/o 5dimes

The Indiana Pacers have not got off to the hot start it hoped for in the 2017-18 season. One game above .500, it travels to face the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden at 7 PM (CT) on ESPN Wednesday night. The game is set with EVEN odds according to NBA oddsmakers at 5dimes, and it has an over/under of 206.5 points.

IND

The Pacers are still hoping for much more from center Myles Turner. Pegged as a franchise player early in his NBA career, he is averaging just 12 points and six rebounds per game in 26 minutes a night. Trade throw-in Domantas Sabonis has proved arguably more effective, with 11.8 points and 9.7 rebounds in just 22.5 minutes per game. The Pacers marquee player is still one Victor Oladipo, who leads the team in scoring at 21.7 points per game. Oladipo never was able to break out in Orlando or in Oklahoma City, but he is serving the role of franchise cornerstone for this Pacers team, a team that should improve as the season wears on. The 4-3 start is less than ideal, but Indiana should still find its way to 45-50 wins before the season elapses, and it is a quasi-contender in the soft Eastern Conference.

Indiana ranks No. 3 in the NBA in team defense, allowing just 102.9 points per game, but its offense generates just 109.0 per game. It will have some work to do in the Central Division with the Milwaukee Bucks off to a 7-0 start this season. The Pacers should be able to overcome Detroit, who leads it by a half-game at this juncture. Indiana had won two-straight prior to its 103-93 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers, with wins over the Cleveland Cavaliers and San Antonio Spurs. Ideally, the Pacers get Turner more shots and space the floor more for sharpshooter Bojan Bogdanovic, who is averaging 14 points per game but could easily better that if the Pacers could get him some more open looks.

NY

The New York Knicks are 2-5 this season, with both its wins coming at home where it sports a 2-2 mark thus far. New York is not a playoff contender, particularly not with franchise player Kristaps Porzingis still out indefinitely with no timetable on his return. The season has mostly been about developing the young talent on the roster and head coach David Fitzdale seems up for the task. Though the Knicks are struggling to win games, there has been plenty of progression on an individual basis from its young talent.

Among those prospects are Damyean Dotson, Trey Burke, Mario Hezonja, Frank Ntilikina, and Kevin Knox. All five have starter-level potential, but by and large all have their respective question marks, as well. Dotson has been excellent in averaging 13 points in under 30 minutes a night, while Burke has had his scoring spurts and is tallying 10.9 points per game.

Hezonja perhaps has been the greatest mystery, a talented scorer whose defensive deficiencies leave plenty to be desired. While Hezonja was never able to meaningfully become a regular in Orlando’s rotation, he is averaging 19 minutes per game, but his shooting has never approached the level scouts projected when he was taken No. 5 overall by the Magic. He is shooting just 27.6 percent from three on 4.1 attempts per game, which hardly warrants his playing time if not for the fact that his potential, supposedly, is still so high.

Ntilikina is trying to become more of an offensive threat, but he is averaging just nine points per game in a shade under 30 minutes per contest. His defense is already top-notch, but the Knicks are still not a good defensive team, largely because center Enes Kanter cannot protect the rim much better than a guard. He averages 0.29 blocks per game. The Knicks will focus on continuing to develop its young talents, and Kevin Knox is still on the shelf after suffering an injury in the third game of the season. The Knicks could finish with the worst record in the East, but this is a season about seeing what is on the roster as it anticipates the return of 7’3” forward Kristaps Porzingis.