Pacers vs Hawks: Home Again

Indiana Pacers (7-13) vs. Atlanta Hawks (13-6)

The Pacers play host tonight as the Atlanta Hawks come to town, the only time Atlanta will be visiting Bankers Life Fieldhouse this season. When the Pacers visited Fortress Philips earlier this season with a third of the roster missing (thanks to injury) they trailed by as much as 17 points but the hot shooting of Chris Copeland helped make it close before the Hawks pulled away. It was Jeff Teague and Demarre Caroll who finished off Indiana that time around as Atlanta won 102-92.

In the last matchup Rodney Stuckey left the game with injury and he’s returned to the lineup since then but the injury bug is still around in Indiana. Tonight and for at least the next six weeks the Pacers will be missing Ian Mahinmi. The backup center provides defensive bite when he’s on the floor, but the Pacers will most likely up LaVoy Allen’s minutes to make up for the missing Frenchman. He ended up playing more minutes than Mahinmi in the previous meeting in Atlanta with 6 points and 6 rebounds, so there is reason for optimism if he plays 20+ minutes again tonight.

In what has become expected of this matchup, the Hawks will look to space the floor like they usually do in an effort to avoid Roy Hibbert and take away the Pacers defense’s best weapon. Once they get Al Horford’s mid-range game going it only opens up the entire floor. When Al Horford scored his 20 points in the last matchup, only one of his nine baskets came against Hibbert in any sort of normal half-court setting.  He took advantage of fast breaks or his own shooting range to get away from Hibbert and when Roy wasn’t on the floor was more aggressive about getting inside and trying to score. Expect a similar plan tonight as the Hawks aim to win their seventh straight game.

Who to watch on the Hawks: Jeff Teague and the Hawks killed the Pacers in the fast break last time out, and Teague also has a knack for picking up fouls. Last time out he forced the Pacers to foul him six times, going 10 of 10 from the charity stripe.

Who to watch on the Pacers: Chris Copeland and Damjan Rudez have been in a battle for playing time as of late as Copeland’s shooting has started to flatline. Rudez’s minutes have been upped at the cost of Copeland’s and for good reason: In the last 3 games, Rudez is shooting 58.3% to Copeland’s 31.6%. Both are averaging six points a game over that span, but obviously Damo is doing it more efficiently. If that isn’t enough, we know even in Indiana’s defense Copeland isn’t much of a defender, so anything Rudez does defensively is only seen as a plus.

The Big Question

Can the Pacers handle the balanced approach of the Atlanta Hawks? What always unravels Indiana in these match ups is the way the Hawks can open up the floor from mid and long range. Once they start hitting those shots they take Roy Hibbert out of the game both figuratively and at times, literally. Indiana is has more of their roster back than when they played Atlanta in November, but the Hawks still have the advantage in a number of the one-on-one match ups.

Betting Line

Indiana is only a -1 home favorite with a 193.5 over/under. I’d take the Pacers and the over, unless you expect Indiana to shoot only 38.3 percent from the floor again. They had an off night against the Kings on the end of a road trip, but Indiana isn’t going to be backed into a corner even by a average defense.

One Random Thing

I almost wish this game was in Atlanta just so we could listen to the Hawks in-game musician, Sir Foster, serenade us all.