NBA Game of the Night for Monday and a +679 Parlay

The Pacers visit the Hornets on Tuesday in our NBA Game of the Night. Both teams are banged up and it will be interesting to see who is actually playing tonight. Then again, at this time of year can can say the same thing about every game on the slate. The Pacers will be looking to sweep the season series 3-0 after taking the first two games. 

Injuries

Pacers star point guard, Tyrese Haliburton, is not expected to play tonight after being ruled out for three games last week. In addition to Haliburton’s injury, Chris Duarte, Isaiah Jackson and Bennedict Mathurin are all on the injury report ahead of Monday’s game and could all end up being game-time decisions tonight. Haliburton could potentially play on Wednesday at Toronto, but that’s far from a sure bet as of now. 

The Hornets have lost point guard LaMelo Ball for the Season and will be without big man Mark Williams and wingman Cody Martin, although none of these injuries are new. 

Last Meeting

The Pacers won 116-111 on Jan. 8 behind 29 points, nine rebounds and four blocks from Myles Turner in a game where all five Pacers starters scored at least 15 points. Buddy Hield had 21 and four triples, Andrew Nembhard had 19 points, four steals and four 3-pointers, Haliburton had 16 points and 13 assists, and Aaron Nesmith, who is coming in hot to this one, added 15 points and four steals in the win. 

The Hornets also had all five starters score in double digits and got 22 points out of P.J. Washington, 19 points, six rebounds and six assists from Terry Rozier, 18 points and 13 rebounds from Mason Plumlee (now with the Clippers), 17 points from Jalen McDaniels and 13 points from Ball. 

Last Game

The Pacers were beaten by the Sixers by 20 points on Saturday but all five starters scored in double figures in that one, as well. Nembhard has been starting for Haliburton and had 22 points, two assists and two 3-pointers last night, while Nesmith got loose for 25 points, six rebounds and four 3-pointers to lead the way for Indiana. Turner scored 20 and Jordan Nwora, Buddy Hield and Jalen Smith (off the bench) all scored 13 points. Nesmith has scored between 15 and 25 points over his last three games and Nembhard has scored between 14 and 24 points in each of his last five games, making both of them intriguing prospects tonight.

The Hornets also faced the Sixers in their last game and were blown out by nearly 40 points.  Three starters and one reserve hit double figures for them, while everyone else stunk. Rozier valiantly led the way with 14 points on 6-of-18 shooting, Washington hit 5-of-16 shots for 12 points, Oubre hit 2-of-12 shots for 11 points and Kai Jones had 10 points and nine rebounds off the bench. Big man Nick Richards was in foul trouble against Joel Embiid and didn’t even score in his 13 minutes, but should bounce back tonight. And former great Gordon Hayward was bottled up and scored just six points on four shots. 

The Records

The Pacers have won three of their last five and are fighting for their playoff lives, sitting just outside of the play-in as the No. 11 seed 1.5 games behind No. 10 Chicago. This should be a must-win game for them if they hope to play in the postseason. The Pacers are 13-22 on the road. 

The Hornets are 22-15 and have already been eliminated from postseason play and are hoping to get a shot at Victor Wembanyama with the No. 1 pick. Unfortunately, they’re not even in the bottom three teams at this point with the Pistons, Spurs and Rockets having no more than 19 wins. The Hornets are just 11-24 at home this season, have lost four straight and seven of their last nine games. 

The Defense

The Hornets are middle-of-the-road against opposing guards and power forwards, but give it up to small forwards to the tune of 22.87 points per game. That’s fifth-worst in the NBA and should mean more goodies for Nesmith tonight. Centers also tend to dominate against them and they give up 24.7 points to the opposition, which is fourth-worst in the league. Turner could have a big game tonight for Indy. 

The Pacers are second-worst in the league against opposing shooting guards (25.38 points) which should be good news for both Rozier and Oubre tonight. But they’re going to obviously have to shoot the ball a lot better than they did in their last one. The Pacers are also third-worst in the league against opposing centers, but we don’t trust Richards enough to put money on him against Turner tonight. 

The Pick

Oddscrowd top performing bettor MarySD likes the Pacers’ moneyline tonight and Tommygun101 likes Indiana giving up the two points despite being on the road. And with the Pacers having something to play for against one of the worst teams in the league missing some of its best players, we’re right there with them. 

Pick: Pacers -2

Same Game +679 Parlay

Leg 1: Pacers -2

Leg 2: Buddy Hield to score 15+ points

Leg 3: Andrew Nembhard to score 15+ points

Leg 4: Kelly Oubre to score 20+ points