Sharing The Load

Toronto Raptors Q1 -3.5 (+115) 1u

@LippyLeans

 nice hit sir

@StraightWagers

 Thank you 

I am taking Mr. West’s break as a call to action. Nice to start it off with a W. 

@LippyLeans

 you're a good man Lippy

I find myself drawn to the Indiana Pacers today. 

For starters, these two teams do not like each other. Many of Giannis’ biggest games have come against Indiana (but he will not be playing tonight). Just in the last couple seasons we have the fight over the game ball as well as conflicts with Haliburton’s father in the playoffs. Obviously Indiana got the last laugh there, but this season they are down 0-2 losing both games at home. They will play two more times, both in Milwaukee. They lost the regular season series 1-3 last year and if they want to improve on that this season, it starts tonight. 

Bucks have won two in a row, but I think there’s at least a small bubble burst for them looking at their moves (or lack there of) at the deadline. Giannis is still around and zero backup has arrived. Neither Cole Anthony nor Amir Coffey really move the needle for me but that’s two less bodies and I believe there should be a feeling of futility in this locker room. Their two recent wins were against a Bulls team with lots of injuries/coping with its own trades and an overtime win over the 13 win pelicans. Their only other win in the last 10 games was a 2 point victory over the hawks with Giannis playing 29 minutes. They also don’t play again until Monday in Florida. In fact, they have back to back games @ Orlando which means they get to leave the freezing temperatures and snow in Milwaukee and escape to sunny Florida for a few days. Come on human psychology. Do your thing. 

On the pacers side, sure, they have as many wins as New Orleans, but this team is better than their record IMO. Injuries really derailed them to start the season (not Hali, but other guys like Nembhard, Nesmith, TJ, Toppin, etc) and to be fair, now that they have lost so many games they definitely don’t want to win that many more. However, I do believe this is one they will try to win. Siakam, TJ, Nesmith, and Nembhard all sat last game on the b2b hosting Utah. All of them should play tonight after 3 nights off. Huge advantage over the bucks playing their 3rd game in 4 nights including OT 2 nights ago. 

On December 23rd, the Bucks (without Giannis) crushed the Pacers 111-94. Indiana should take this seriously even with the former MVP sidelined.

I don’t even know how much it matters at this point, but let’s not forget that Myles Turner spent his entire career in Indiana before jumping ship to this divisional rival in the offseason. Turner is up 2-0 since the departure. I won’t bore you with my thoughts on Jay Huff (they are plentiful), but something about the pacers trading for Zubac seems to give this a little more juice. He won’t play tonight, but it’s a nice little reminder of the Turner departure to feel like you’ve got your new replacement. The pressure of his arrival could certainly result in an especially strong game for Huff tonight, but that’s not the focus of this post.  Whether he puts up the numbers or not, I like the extra motivation. 

Indiana Pacers ML (-120) 1.2u