Indiana at Charlotte
Time: 7 PM CT (TNT)
Spread: CHA -4
Total: 205.5
Betting odds c/o 5dimes
The Indiana Pacers and Charlotte Hornets are struggling. Both clubs have lost seven of their previous 10 games, and the Hornets still are three full games behind No. 8 Detroit for the East’s final playoff spot. The Pacers are just 11-20 on the road and will face the Hornets as 4-point underdogs. The over/under is set at 205.5 points according to NBA oddsmakers at 5dimes, and the game will air at 7 PM (CT) on TNT.
Indiana won its last outing 97-96 over the Atlanta Hawks. The Pacers got 34 points, four assists and five rebounds from Paul George as he shot 12 of 19 from the field. Indy was good for 44.9 percent as a team while connecting on 15 of 33 (45.5 percent) from three-point range. Glenn Robinson III hit the game winning three and finished with 11 points on 3 of 5 shooting (all threes). The Pacers derived 24 assists on 35 field goals while committing 15 turnovers and the rebounding differential was even.
The Pacers still are trying to build some consistency and overcome a bit of apathy. The team ideally should have been far better than two games above .500 by this juncture in the season, and George really has not played to his All-Star caliber level. He has fallen off badly from last season, which represented the best of his NBA career. Similarly, Myles Turner has not had the breakout season the Pacers bet on. Turner is still averaging 15.4 points, 7.1 rebounds and 2.07 blocks per game, but the Pacers are nearly betting franchise talent on the second-year forward from Texas. With George due to defect in 2018 as a free agent, the team will likely seek to build around Turner as he matures.
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The rest of the Pacers is a hodgepodge of discarded talents, the likes of Rodney Stuckey, Al Jefferson and Monta Ellis, all of whom are on a steady decline and have played their best basketball. As far as youngsters to put around Turner, they will have to be largely acquired with Robinson III the only promising young talent on the roster. Georges Niang and Joe Young may eventually play a factor, but the pair has appeared in just 49 games between them with both guys seeing less than five minutes a game. Consequently, for the present, the Pacers are mostly a mediocre team, and there are not an overabundance of reasons to expect things to improve in the 2016-17 season.
Charlotte has been a disappointment in its own right since beginning the season as one of the hottest teams in the East. Charlotte began the season 8-3 and looked to be one of the most improved clubs in the NBA, but what worked then has mostly been gone away from since. Kemba Walker led the team in scoring in all of its early victories, and he hit a patch of struggles that he is just emerging from now. Walker is averaging 24 points, 5.4 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game over his past 10 games while playing nearly 39 minutes a night. Nicolas Batum had assumed such a large role in the offense that he was effectively functioning as a point guard, but Walker has seen a revival through Charlotte’s continuing struggles.
Over his past five games, Walker is averaging 25.8 points and shooting 47.7 percent from three on 8.8 attempts per night. He has scored 26 or more in the Hornets’ past four games, and if this team is to make a leap back towards playoff relevancy it will be on the shoulders of the former UConn Husky. Walker is in his fifth NBA season, and he has improved vastly since entering the league, but Charlotte is not a good enough team to thrive when Walker is in “coasting mode.” The engaged Walker that has been present the last month will need to continue to be so, as Charlotte looks to gain a win at home against a Pacers club that has had its struggles on the road this season.
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