In an NBA game on Friday night at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, the San Antonio Spurs will travel to face the Indiana Pacers. With that considered, now is a good time to look at our NBA oddsseries, which is presented below and includes a prediction and choice for the Spurs vs. Pacers game.
San Antonio lost to Charlotte at home by a lopsided score of 129-102 to start the season. The era of Duncan/Parker/Ginobili is ended, and Gregg Popovich is the lone survivor of those squads. After finishing 34-48 last season and missing the playoffs, Pop faces a challenging assignment this year.
Indiana also lost their season opener, falling 114-107 at home to the Washington Wizards. Last season, Indiana endured a horrendous 25-57 record and placed thirteenth in the Eastern Conference. The 2022–23 season does not appear to be much better for this group.
Thanks to FanDuel, here are the NBA odds for the Spurs-Pacers game.
NBA Odds: Spurs-Pacers Odds
Spurs of San Antonio: +2.5 (-110)
Pacers of Indiana: -2.5 (-110)
Over: 232.5 (-110) (-110)
Under: 232.5 (-110)
Why The Spurs Could Cover The Spread
San Antonio had a terrible time in their debut, shooting just 21% from beyond the arc and 40% from the field as a whole. In the 27-point defeat, fifteen turnovers proved to be costly. Twenty points and eleven rebounds, along with four assists and two steals, gave Keldon Johnson a double-double. Johnson, who is in his fourth season in the league, has shown consistent growth each year, but his shooting has been reliable since his first year. In the first game, Johnson had a field goal percentage of 47%.
In 27 minutes, Jakob Poeltl scored 14 points. accumulating nine rebounds and distributing two assists. Trey Jones contributed 14 points in addition, and he also had three rebounds, two assists, and a steal. Doug McDermott managed to score a total of twelve points on fifty percent of his shots in just sixteen minutes. Joshua Primo played 26 minutes, notching ten points and five assists, which led the squad. San Antonio had a terrible time making free throws, just making 71 percent of them. There ought to be progress in that area.
Why The Pacers Could Cover The Spread
With Washington, Indiana lost a close game that ended with a score of just seven points. Tyrese Haliburton was outstanding in the team’s opening game, leading them with 26 points, seven assists, a field goal percentage of 56 percent, and four rebounds. In addition to scoring 19 points, Bennedict Mathurin pulled down seven rebounds, had two assists, and two steals. With sixteen points and 10 rebounds, Buddy Hield had a double-double, leading the team. Jalen Smith scored a whopping 16 points while grabbing 8 boards. In the first half, Indiana handed out 21 assists but also brutally turned the ball over fifteen times.
Furthermore, Indiana’s poor free-throw shooting percentage of just 67 percent in the losing effort was demoralising. The team only managed to shoot 40% from the field and 36% from beyond the arc. To help this squad win, they need to be more physical and shoot the ball better. The highest +/- ratio was recorded by Mathurin, who checked in at a +9 rate. Haliburton made an outstanding 50% of his three-point attempts, so adding additional attempts for him might be key to winning the game. In this one, Indiana has a better matchup.
Final Spurs-Pacers Prediction & Pick
Expect little from San Antonio in this matchup, and neither defence played well in either team’s opener.
Final pick for the Spurs-Pacers game: Indiana -2.5 (-110), above 232.5 (-110)
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