A very promising season for the Pacers has been derailed, at least temporarily, by the loss of their superstar guard, Victor Oladipo. Indiana is 2-4 SU and 1-5 ATS since losing Oladipo about two weeks ago and had to scratch and claw to get by New Orleans’ G League team last night. LeBron and the Lakers open as 2.5-point favorites with the total at 216.5 tonight in the Hoosier State.
- Indiana is 1-6 ATS in its last 7 games.
- The total has gone UNDER in four of the Lakers’ last five games (avg. combined score: 225.6).
- Indiana is 1-7 ATS in its last 8 games when playing the Lakers.
Pacers’ Scoring is Way Down
Indiana was already a low-scoring team that relied on its top scoring defense to win basketball games but since Oladipo went down, the Pacers are the fourth-lowest scoring team in the NBA at 99.3 points per game.
This makes sense as Oladipo was the team’s leading scorer at the time of his injury and his loss equates to 18.8 points per game. Replacing that isn’t easy and Bojan Bogdanovic has added just 2.7 points per game to his output since the injury.
Over the same time period, the Pacers have the No. 11 scoring defense at 107.8 points per game, which is 4.1 points per game higher than their season average.
The Pacers are 1-6 ATS in their last seven.
Lakers Are Finally Getting Healthy
LA has been running a patchwork lineup for the last few weeks with regulars like LeBron James, Kyle Kuzma, Rajon Rondo and Lonzo Ball on the shelf.
Of that group, only Ball remains out of the lineup for the Lake Show, although with trade rumors swirling, it’s hard to say if the Lakers team we see today looks anything like the one that will exist after the trade deadline.
The Lakers have covered the spread in their last two games but have been a terrible bet vs Eastern Conference teams on the year as they’re just 4-11-1 against the spread.
My Pick For Tonight
I’m not very confident taking either side in this game so I’m taking a look at the total. In the first meeting of these teams this season on November 29, incidentally, a game that Victor Oladipo didn’t play in, the Lakers came away with a 104-96 win while laying five points.
Additionally, the total has gone UNDER in four of the Lakers’ last five games and in four of the last five games in this matchup. Early betting has the public on the OVER, so I am going to wait and see if the number gets higher before locking in the UNDER.
