New York Knicks at Indiana Pacers 12/23/20: NBA Basketball free preview, analysis, prediction, odds and pick against the spread.
2020-12-23 19:00:00 EDT
The New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers meet Wednesday in NBA action at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
The New York Knicks haven’t played a game since March 11, and they’ll finally make their debut with Tom Thibodeau at head coach. As usual, the Knicks roster has a ton of question marks and guys you’re just not sure what you’re going to get. The Knicks have a pair of rookies in Immanuel Quickley and Obi Toppin, and New Yorkers can only hope they can eventually turn this franchise around. The Knicks also hope there’s progress in Kevin Knox and RJ Barrett, as they’re supposed to be part of the core of this franchise. It’s also going to be interesting to see how some of these young guys adapt to a hard nose coach in Thibodeau who has a history of running his players into the ground. At the very least, Austin Rivers and Nerlens Noel are solid additions to their bench and provide some veteran presence.
The Indiana Pacers will play for the first time since getting swept by the Miami Heat in the playoffs. The Pacers will need time to adjust to a new head coach in Nate Bjorkgren after they made the controversial move of firing Nate McMillan. The Pacers are better out of the gate with the return of a healthy Domantas Sabonis. We’ll also see if Victor Oladipo can return to form after inconsistent play last year. Eyes should also be on T.J. Warren, as he played the best ball of his career in the bubble and if he can repeat that this season, the Pacers are going to be a tough out in the East. They didn’t upgrade the roster, but the Pacers are one of the better teams in the league few talk about.
The Knicks are 12-27 ATS in their last 39 Wednesday games and 5-2 ATS in their last 7 games overall. The Pacers are 13-3-1 ATS in their last 17 Wednesday games and 0-4 ATS in their last 4 games overall. The over is 8-2 in Knicks last 10 overall. The under is 6-1 in Pacers last 7 overall. The Knicks are 5-11 ATS in the last 16 meetings in Indiana.
The New York Knicks have some showing and proving to do before I can get behind them against above average teams. With the return of Sabonis, a possible allstar in Warren and a more healthy Oladipo, the Pacers are a very solid team capable of surprising some folks in the East. I expect the Pacers to get off to a strong start and build on the momentum they created in the bubble. I’ll lay the chalk with Indiana.
