The Indiana Pacers travel to the Sunshine State for an Eastern Conference showdown with the Orlando Magic on Friday 12/7/18.
The Pacers are 5th in the Eastern Conference team standings right now while the Magic are in 7th place if the postseason started today.
The Indiana Pacers have played without their All-Star guard and leading scorer Victor Oladipo for the past eight games. But despite playing without their main man, the team has been able to win half of those games playing tough defense. As a result, the Pacers are still 14-10 this season and second in the Central Division .
With Oladipo hurt, Bojan Bogdanovic leads the team in scoring at 15.9 points per game. Domantas Sabonis is also scoring 14.3 points per game while leading the Pacers in rebounding at 10.1 rebounds per game. Darren Collison has a team high 5.0 assists and 1.7 steals per game while scoring a shade under double digits at 9.6 per game.
The Pacers rank only 26th in the NBA in team scoring at 105.8 points per game and they are also ranked 12 in assists at 24.4 dimes per contest. Indiana’s 42.3 rebounds per game average ranks 24th overall this season. But despite those lowly rankings, Indiana has kept itself in the thick of the fight by owning the best scoring defense in the league this season at 102.1 points per game allowed.
The Orlando Magic fell one game below the .500 mark as they dropped a 118-124 overtime contest to the Denver Nuggets. The loss was the third in five games for the Magic who are still the top team in the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference with a one-half game lead over the Charlotte Hornets.
Nikola Vucevic leads the Magic in both scoring and rebounding. The seven footer is averaging 21.0 points and 11.4 rebounds per game this season. High flying forward Aaron Gordon is contributing 16.4 points and 7.4 rebounds per game while D.J. Augustin is the team’s top passer with 5.4 assists per game while also scoring 10.5 points per game. Rookie Mo Bamba is averaging 6.7 points and a team high 1.3 blocks per game.
Orlando scores an average of 106.3 points per game which is 25th in the league in team scoring. The Magic are also ranked 25th in rebounds at 42.2 rebounds per game. However, they are 6th in the entire NBA in assists with 26.2 dimes per contest. Like the Pacers, they are one of the best defensive teams this season, limiting their opponents to 108.0 points per game, 8th best scoring defense in the league this season.
The Pacers and Magic have played each other 106 times during the NBA regular season. Indiana holds the edge in all-time wins at 60-46 and the Pacers have also won 14 out of their last 15 meetings including the last seven. Indiana has also won their last seven meetings in Orlando dating back to the 2013-14 season.
Indiana is 3-2 SU in their last five games played and are 2-4 SU in their last six games on the road. Orlando is also 3-2 SU in their last five games played and are 6-7 SU in 13 home games played this season. Head to head, the Pacers are 5-0 SU in their last five games against the Magic. They are also 5-0 SU in their last five road games against Orlando.
The Pacers snapped a two game losing streak by beating the Chicago Bulls in their last game. Indiana is 6-4 in its last 10 games played but their last two losses have come by a combined nine points and both on the road. Indiana hasn’t been exceptional on the road this season at 7-6 SU but neither have the Magic been good at home at 6-7 SU.
Orlando is 2-3 SU in their last five games played but their three losses have come against top Western Conference teams in Denver, Portland and Golden State and they lost those games by an average margin of 5 points per game. Having said that, the Magic are playing better than their 12-13 record .
The main difference in this game is that Victor Oladipo won’t be playing for the Pacers as he is still out with a knee injury. The Pacers though have managed to salvage a 4-4 split in the eight games they have played without their top scorer. Three out of those four losses though came on the road and that’s where the Pacers are in this game. We’re picking the Orlando Magic to beat the Indiana Pacers on 12/7/18.
The Pacers are 2-5 ATS in their last seven games played and also 2-4 ATS in their last six games on the road. The Magic are 5-1 ATS in their last six games played but are 2-13 ATS in their last 15 games against Indiana.
The Pacers are 4-4 SU without Oladipo so you know they are going to give this a good fight as their other players have stepped up in the absence of their superstar. Orlando is playing its third game in four nights so you can make an argument that they could be tired in this contest. I think Oladipo’s absence will hurt the Pacers in a close game like this. Without a closer, I’m siding with the home team. Prediction: Magic -1.5
The total has gone under in four out of the last five games played by the Pacers and also under in 14 out of their total 24 games played this season. Likewise the under is 15-10 in Orlando’s 25 games played this season. However, the total has gone over in four out of the last six meetings between these teams.
These are two of the top defenses in the league right now with Indiana as #1 and Orlando at #8. Their offenses aren’t impressive either with the Pacers ranked 26th and the Magic 25th in team scoring. The under is a combined 29-20 in their games and the only reason why their head to head trends point to the over is because they have not played each other this season. I’m pretty sure this is going to be a low scoring affair with these two defensive minded squads. Prediction: Under 207
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