Jeff Allen’s Pacers/Warriors NBA Game Preview
Tonight’s ESPN late show features the Indiana Pacers taking on the Golden State Warriors at the Oracle Arena
in Oakland. At 23-19, the Pacers have been somewhat disappointing. Currently sitting as the fifth seed in the East
the Pacers should enjoy the second half of the season where their schedule is backloaded with home games. The
39-4 Warriors need no introduction as sport’s current Flavor of the Month but will need to continue winning to hold
off the raging San Antonio Spurs. The current consensus Vegas line is Golden State -13 with the total pretty much
set at 218 across the board.
Paul George (23.7, 7.4, 4.0) is having a nice year year for the Pacers just 18 months after sustaining a near catastrophic
leg injury while playing for Team USA. Indiana has a strong backcourt that features Monta Ellis (13.7, 5.0) and C.J. Miles
(13.2) but lack of size and production in the front court puts Indiana at a major disadvantage vs. Golden State.
The Warriors return home off back-to-back blowout wins over the Cavaliers and Bulls. Golden State is 19-0 at home this
year and on a run of 37 straight home wins. The Warriors are a complete team that is big, fast athletic, smart, deep and
can shoot like no team in recent memory. Steph Curry and Klay Thompson get most of the pub but you could argue that
Draymond Green (14.5, 9.5, 7.5) is the glue that holds things together.
The teams met in Indianapolis on December 8th with Golden State (-5.5, 213) winning a jump shooting contest 131-123.
The game featured 30 treys with Warriors cashing 16-36 (44%) from behind the arc. Don’t see things being much different
here as five of the last seven Pacer games and six of the last eight Warrior games have gone over the total.