On Wednesday, the Indiana Pacers lost to the Knicks, 119-113, but the biggest loss wasn’t the game, it was their soon-to-be all-star, Tyrese Haliburton to an elbow sprain. Haliburton will be evaluated in two weeks, but now the Pacers will be without their point guard that has led them to 23-19.
The Atlanta Hawks have their point guard, Trae Young, but that hasn’t led to positive results this season. On Wednesday they nearly took down Milwaukee without him and it seems like things could boil over soon with the Hawks at 19-22.
Let’s get into the odds for this intriguing Eastern Conference matchup tonight.
Hawks vs. Pacers odds, spread and total
Hawks vs. Pacers prediction and pick
The Pacers will obviously miss Haliburton and on top of that, Myles Turner is questionable and he missed that game on Wednesday. Getting Turner back tonight would be huge on both ends of the court. He’s averaging 17.0 points and 2.3 blocks. Still, the bigger loss is Haliburton who is giving them 20.2 points and 10.2 assists a night. However, I think that Indiana might be uniquely suited to weather the storm while he’s out.
The Pacers have gotten a lot from two rookies in the backcourt this season. Benedict Mathurin has been scoring 17.2 points a game coming off the bench and Andrew Nembhard has been so steady in the starting lineup alongside Haliburton. I assume Nembhard slides over to point guard and Mathurin steps right into the starting lineup.
Atlanta is 22nd in offensive rating even with all of their weapons mostly healthy this season, and they’re average on the defensive end. Last time they met Indiana got the win 129-114 with 60 points in the paint. If they can dominate around the rim again, then they should win as a home underdog. There’s not much value taking them on the moneyline so I’ll happily grab the 2.5 extra points.
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Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change