The Indiana Pacers pay a visit to the Miami Heat at the FTX Arena on Friday night.
The Indiana Pacers have been in a rut as they’ve lost four of their past six games, but they will be looking to stay hot in this one after taking down the Celtics in a 117-112 road win on Wednesday. Tyrese Haliburton led the team with 33 points and eight assists on 12 of 24 shooting, Aaron Nesmith added 15 points while Chris Duarte chipped in with 14 points off the bench. As a team, the Pacers shot 46 percent from the field and 18 of 39 from the 3-point line as they jumped all over the Celtics from the tipoff and dominated the first half by 71-43 which proved to be handy in the end as the Celtics rallied to get within five points.
Meanwhile, the Miami Heat have been in fine form as they’ve won five of their last seven games, but they will be eager to bounce back here after having their four-game win streak halted by the Bulls in a 113-103 loss on Tuesday. Bam Adebayo led the team with 27 points, 12 rebounds and six assists on 12 of 15 shooting, Tyler Herro added 19 points with seven assists while Haywood Highsmith chipped in with 18 points and four steals. As a team, the Heat shot 46 percent from the field and 15 of 44 from the 3-point line as they exploded for 36 points in the second quarter to overcome an early 10-point deficit, only to get blown out by 36-20 in the third quarter to trail by as many as 19 points at one stage.
Looking at the betting trends, the Pacers are 1-5 ATS in their last six games following a win and 3-7 ATS in their last 10 games playing on one days rest. The Heat are 5-15-1 ATS in their last 21 home games, 8-2 ATS in their last 10 games following a double-digit loss at home and 2-6-1 ATS in their last nine games overall.
Head to head, the under is 10-4 in the last 14 meetings overall.
The Pacers could be shorthanded for this one as Tyrese Haliburton is listed as questionable, while the Heat have Caleb Martin, Gabe Vincent and Udonis Haslem as questionable. The Pacers rely so much on the production of Haliburton, so his status for this game has a major factor here, but assuming that he plays, I’ll back the Pacers with the points in this spot.
